Persona 4X: The World's Beginning
by damus1cmahn
Summary: Prequel to "The World's Universe". Join Yu Narukami as he is shipped off to Inaba for a year with a chance to start anew and vague memories of a girl he once met long ago. Will he find her there, or will they never met again? Meanwhile, a strange fog envelops the town he will be staying in. A novelization of Persona 4: Golden. A YuxRise fic.
1. Welcome to Yasoinaba!

**A/N: **As part of the Persona X series, I was inclined to write a prequel to my main Persona X story, "World's Universe." I felt like I needed to give insight onto how Yu and Rise met each other and how their subsequent relationship developed. In its basic form, this is a novelization of Persona 4: Golden with a couple of twists and a very heavy emphasis on the Lover's Social Link. As expected, a YuxRise shipping story, with minor YosukexChie and KanjixNaoto shipping.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Welcome to Yasoinaba!**

He was always the one to pick up things quickly, grasp concepts, and seemingly apply them in an instant. He probably knew more languages than an average person would ever know in two lifetimes. He was able to do long division in his head faster than the number two person did it on paper. There was no doubt in his mind that he was the best of the best…or so he thought.

There was one area that Yu Narukami was left out on: socialization. Yu moved around a lot with his parents all over Japan, and at times, other parts of the world since he was 5. As a result, he never got to make any lasting friends, as he would always move at the end of the year. He got to travel to places like the United States, Russia, France, Brazil, and Australia and never knew why they moved around so much, but he kept telling himself that it was his mother's job, and his father was inseparable from her.

Yu knew both of his parents worked for the Kirijo Group, based in Iwatodai; it was how they met, bonding over their inherent otaku nature. Apparently, Yu's mother passed by his father's office one day and noticed his shelf full of Dragon Ball Z manga alongside his corporate stuff. She stepped in and started arguing with him. Of course, Yu's mother was the tsundere of the two, the straight-man (or woman) of the comedy duo; the people Yu knew from the Kirijo Group always told him it was always like watching a sitcom: they would hate each other, bark at each other, but they were inseparable from day one.

Each school Yu attended, well in this case "visited for a year," he wouldn't talk to anyone, as he knew the inevitable outcome. It used to be that he started out trying to make friends, but as time went, he eventually gave up on the idea. There would be random times where he would talk to people, but he still knew the outcome. Still, he pressed on, never looking back on the past. There were two people, though, that he still remembered from his younger years. There was a young girl with auburn hair and another young girl with maroon hair. But that's all he remembered. What they did that made them so memorable, well to his standards at least, what their names were, what their faces looked like, he couldn't remember a single bit…

-_4/10/2011 – Sunny – 11:00 AM_-

_Sinagawa Station, Sinagawa District, Tokyo, Japan_

There was barely any walking room. Thousands of people rushed past the young man with a dark silver hair to get to their trains at one of the largest rail stations in all of Japan. It looked more like an airport rather than a train station. Then again, he guessed any place where they pool people together on transportation would look like this. The entire building (inside and out) was coated in white, so white it hurt to look down at the ground in fear of becoming blind. He passed several food and trinket stalls while contemplating for a small snack or something to entertain himself en route, but he knew he wasn't going to because his parents were walking next to him. Yu's father was wearing his eternal happy-go-lucky grin, while his mother wore her eternally stoic façade. He'd always wondered if they ever changed their emotions, well he'd only seen his father change emotion, but always reverted to his smile rather quickly; his mother always looked like she was always bored and uninterested (unless in cosplay, of course, or in a dire situation). In any case, they reached the ticketing carousel, where Yu turned around to face his parents, probably the last time he will see them for a year. How did it all come to this?

* * *

_-Flashback to 3/31/2011-_

"Alright, son!" Yu's father called excitingly, "This year, we'll be travelling to Berlin, Germany so your mother can close a business deal over there. Maybe you'll pick up some German, haha!" Yu began to curse himself for travelling so much, especially out of the country. He was sick of it. He needed to escape the usual routine. He needed to stay somewhere long-term. He continued his usual stoic expression he probably inherited from his mother and quite possibly from years of isolation.

"Dad, look, I know you and mom have to travel everywhere for your jobs and you expect me to follow you so I can learn the ways of business, but this is utterly ridiculous. I want to stay here in Japan, this time." As expected, Yu father's grin dropped quickly. His mother, however, drove the first punch.

"Yu. As far as I'm concerned, you seemed okay with it before. Why now?"

"Because I spent the last 16 years keeping my mouth shut about it. I knew it wouldn't work if I tried to convince you, but now I just can't bare it any longer. Do you know how hard it is to make friends when you have to leave at the end of the year? Do you know how hard it is to tell the people I know 'Goodbye' every time we move?" He said all this with the straightest face possible. This was the first time Yu saw a change in his mother's expression ever since they found out Yu's aunt had died in a fatal car accident several years back.

"Okay…you made your point. ~Sigh~ I'll let you stay here for a year, but you will be supervised by someone. Understood?"

"Yes, mother," Yu let out a sigh of relief. At least he will be staying here for a year. Maybe he can transfer back into his school and start making friends that way. Yu saw his mother making a phone call to an unknown party and sounded rather displeased and hasty. She quickly hung up the phone and looked towards Yu.

'So that phone call was about me,' he thought with a bored expression, probably figuring out that it all wasn't going to work out as he thought.

"You will be staying with your uncle and cousin in Yasoinaba, which you have visited before when you were very young. You will be transferring to the high school there and return here at the end of the year. We'll see where it goes from there."

'Well there goes that hope of transferring back into that school,' Yu bitterly thought, '…I guess it was close enough, but no cake. And I sure as hell don't remember visiting…or do I?' His thoughts made its way back to the girl with maroon hair…

As expected, Yu was packing all of his belongings (what little he had since they were always on the move), and shipping them to what he thought was another city. All the while, Yu's parents were having a conversation about it.

"Kirino, are you sure we can let him go?"

"I trust him enough, Kyousuke. The Dark Hour ended a year ago, so he should be fine. I'm putting him under Ryotaro's care just in case anything should happen. There's no real reason to move around anymore… That ass-wipe of a scientist is finally dead…and home is really nothing to write about, so he should be fine."

-_End Flashback-_

* * *

Yu looked at his parents with sad eyes, well his parents knew they were sad eyes, but as far as one could tell, he was staring blankly at them. There was never a moment where his parents weren't in business attire. Yu's father had his black suit and red tie, which he might say was well fitting to his figure (he was really fit), and his mother had her black and white business suit and skirt on. She, for some reason, dyed her hair golden blonde, completely overriding her natural brown hair, which Yu saw only once in his life. She was also ridiculously fit. Yu's parents, being in their mid-to-late 40s, looked like they were in their mid-20s, well Yu's dad looked like it; his mom looked even younger, like she was still in high school. She and Yu would often get confused as being each other's brother and sister, which would be quite hilarious at times. But back to Yu's sad eyes, it may not seem like it, but he was going to miss them. He had never left their side, and however disinterested his mother looked, she actually doted on him more than his father ever did…with her stoic expression. But still, Yu could tell this year will be different from the rest.

"Alright, son!" Kyousuke beamed, "Looks like you'll have an interesting year, I hope. Stay safe and say hi to your little cousin for me!"

"Yu," Kirino plainly addressed, "You will be living with your Uncle for a year. Please do not cause any trouble for him as he is a very busy man and tends to work harder than I do. Be grateful to him as he is letting you stay with him for a year. And also, don't forget to help around the house. And treat your cousin nicely. From what I heard, she is a bit reserved, so don't upset her. Here is his number and address. Don't lose it." Yu took the sheet of paper and let off a soft smile at the both of them, which for the record, still looked quite stoic with a slight upward turn at the cheeks; it was better than his mother's at least.

"Will do," Yu plainly stated. This was the awkward moment where no one wanted to say goodbye, but they'd have to part sometime in the immediate future. Kyousuke was the first one to come up and hug Yu goodbye, with Kirino quickly following suit.

"Stay safe, Yu. And don't get into any trouble, you hear? One call from your uncle and I'm flying back to drag you to Germany, understood?" Kirino sternly stated, pointing her finger at Yu.

"Yes, mom." he replied, still with a soft smile. Yu knew she wouldn't seriously drag him to Germany, but that was always a possibility. He guess he would play it safe for now.

Yu hauled his bags through the ticketing carousel (using his rail pass), which looked a lot tougher than it was since he was carrying a duffle bag and two shopping bags, and was now on his way to the central area where even more people gathered. There, he searched for his train to Iwatodai, where he would be transferring out into another train to Okina, and then to Yasoinaba. Three train transfers. Three times he'll have to look like a total idiot hauling his bags.

Yu stood at the platform, with his ticket in hand, waiting for the train to pick him up to carry him off to who knows where this Yasoinaba City is. There was a large TV behind him saw what looks to be that commercial about the new diet drink everyone was talking about.

"_I'm tired of diets!"_ the girl said excitedly in her rather revealing bikini, "_Luckily, there's something even I can handle!"_

"_In other news, Secretary Taro Namatame was found having an affair with reporter Mayumi Yamano…"_

For some strange reason, the girl in the drink commercial kept reminding Yu of someone he knew in the past, the girl with maroon hair. He still couldn't recall her name or face, but he could recall the color of the hair. He wondered why that was…

Sounds of a speeding train could be heard in the distance, drawing closer and closer to the platform. The sound of the wind grew louder and louder and the rattling of the tracks growing more intense. The train slowed down to a complete stop in front of me as the doors opened. A swarm of people slowly, but surely, stumble out of the trains and onto the platform where they make their way to wherever they were going.

"_12:00 to Nagoya-Kyoto-Osaka now boarding. 12:00 to Nagoya-Kyoto-Osaka now boarding. This train stops at auxiliary stations. Please watch your step. 12:00 to Nagoya-Kyoto-Osaka now boarding. 12:00 to Nagoya-Kyoto-Osaka now boarding. This train stops at auxiliary stations. Please watch your step..."_

Yu was fortunate that his parents could afford a reserved seat in the first class car; being a high-level Kirijo employee really did have its perks. They also lived in luxurious condos and lofts everywhere they moved, but that didn't matter now as he sat on the train next to another business man in a fancy suit. Said business man glanced over at Yu, who wore his day clothes, and then looked away as he silently read his newspaper.

'He's judging my naturally odd hair color, and the fact that I'm a teenager in the first class car, isn't he…'

"_Last call to Nagoya-Kyoto-Osaka. Last call to Nagoya-Kyoto-Osaka. Doors will close in 1 minute. Last call to Nagoya-Kyoto-Osaka. Last call to Nagoya-Kyoto-Osaka. Doors will close in 1 minute…"_

Yu's mind began to wander to the girl with maroon hair. Why did she seem so familiar? Was it because they'd met before? If so, where did he meet her? Were they playmates? It was too long ago…

"_Doors will now be closing. The next train will depart in approximately 30 minutes. Doors will now be closing. The next train will depart in approximately 30 minutes."_

Back in the car, Kyosuke and Kirino looked at each other.

"Well, looks like he'll experience what it's like to live in our hometown," Kirino mused.

"Yup. We never told him, did we?" Kyouske laughed.

"Nope."

* * *

Yu had always like bullet trains. They were fast, sleek, quiet, and spacious (well the first class cars at least). It was too quiet on the train, with the occasional screaming child who wants to go to the bathroom or was more bored than Haruhi on a summer day. In fact, Yu felt like he was Haruhi on a summer day, so he took out the light novel he was reading the night before. Yu was drawn to the more action-packed light novels over the romance ones, but he'd pick one up every now and then. Today's offering was, well, Haruhi Suzumiya. What more was there to love about an abnormal high school girl who can control what happens based on her state of mind?

'This'll keep me entertained for a while.'

-_Partly Cloudy – 1:45 PM-_

"_Welcome to Iwatodai City. Welcome to Iwatodai City. Doors will be opening to the left. Welcome to Iwatodai City. Welcome to Iwatodai City. Doors will be opening to the left…"_

'So this is the place where Kirijo is located,' Yu thought to himself. Surprisingly, his parents weren't there often for being high-level corporate staff for Kirijo. He guessed they did what one would call "telecommuting"often with only his father flying or riding in every couple or so months from wherever he was. Yu also heard the head honcho being a young woman not much older than he was, in fact, only a couple years older. Yu always wondered what his parents thought about it…

* * *

-_?-_

_En Route to Yasoinaba, Japan…?_

'I think I might have finally gone insane. Those years of social isolation finally caught up to me. I should probably admit myself to a shrink. Whatever the case, I'm in a…limo of sorts…?'

He was beyond confused at how he had arrived there. Yu recalled he was last dozing off in a train to Yasoinaba while reading the ever-so entertaining novel of Haruhi Suzumiya, but now he found himself in a seat, unable to move. Just to confirm where he was, he started to glance around, taking note of all of the features of the low room. If he had one word to describe it, it would be blue. The windows were tinted blue, the couches were tinted blue, the table was tinted blue, the lights that lit up the liquor shelf emanated an electric blue, even the clothes of the lady sitting to the right of the table…

'…wait, a lady?'

Sure enough, sitting before Yu was a lady dressed in blue holding what appears to be a giant, encyclopedia-sized book in her lap. The top of her medium-length platinum-blonde hair shined in the only source of …electric blue light in the room. She had her face cast downwards, with her eyes closed and held a stoic expression not unlike his mother. It seemed like she was sleeping, or mediating? Overall, she's beautiful, more beautiful than anything Yu had laid his eyes upon, save for the girl with maroon hair in those commercials…Risette she was called? Anyways, moving left, he saw… an old man.

Great, not that Yu hated old people, he just never dealt well with them, or it was the other way around. Old people always had a tendency to be inimical towards him, for some odd reason. He assumed this one would be the same. The first thing he took notice of was the abhorrently long nose that would make any scene look like it was straight out of a nightmare, not that Yu thought he wasn't in one. It was humorously propped up by his propped up arms that held together in the center. He was noticeably balding with white hair that grew from the side, typical of an aging, old man. His plain black tuxedo was accented by his black bowtie and white boutonniere. He also seemed to be questionably sleeping.

There was sudden movement from the lady, almost like she was expecting the right time for Yu to appear. Her eyes shot open and her head moved up. She stared in the direction of the table, not noticing he was sitting 90 degrees from her. Then, a soft piano melody started to play. It was soothing to the ears and really felt like he was in a dream, or nightmare, or some chaotic mix of both which brought him to the creepy, long-nosed man. The old man's eyes shot open and stared Yu down like he was his next meal, and showed the creepiest grin Yu had ever seen. And the old, senile laugh that the old man made following made Yu decide that this was truly a nightmare.

"Ah…it seems we have a guest with an intriguing destiny… ~chuckles~" the old man starts.

'Okay…that wasn't creepy at all. Wait, a guest?'

"My name is Igor… I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a 'contract' may enter. It may bet that such a fate awaits you in the near future. Now then, why don't' you introduce yourself?" Yu stared at the old man for a long while, trying to wrap everything the old man said in his head.

'Okay, so this is a place that exists in limbo. I can only enter it if I signed a contract of some sort, which I haven't seen yet. The hands of Fate apparently have something in store for me. That's it; it's a nightmare. I'll just roll with it and hope I'll wake up in time.'

"I'm Yu Narukami. It's a pleasure to meet you, Igor-san."

"Hm…I see," Igor replied in his raspy voice of wisdom, "Now let's take a look into your future, shall we?" His hand hovered over the table as a white light began to glow from it. Within a split second, a deck of cards appeared where the lights were. This is truly a nightmare. Igor stared up at Yu again.

"Do you believe in fortune telling?"

"No, not particularly," Yu replied. Igor seemed to ignore him as the old man waved his hand over the cards. The cards began to move on their own, just like a magician with real magical powers. They lay themselves in circular order as if having intelligence of their own. They all lay face down in mystery to what card would appear when one turns it over. Igor looked up at Yu again, presumably to explain what he has done.

"Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different. ~chuckle~ Life itself follows the same principles, doesn't it?"

'Oh great, it's a creepy, crusty, AND philosophical old man, just what I needed in this…whatever this is in my head.' Yu noticed the old man reach down at a particular card and flipped it over. It was a picture of a tower being split in half by lighting of sorts.

"Hmmm…" Igor mumbled pensively, "The Tower in the upright position represents the immediate future. It seems a terrible catastrophe is imminent."

'Well if this were all true, I'm definitely getting shipped to Germany, Yu humorously thought. Still, Igor continued.

"The card indicating the future beyond that is," He flipped another card over, "The Moon, in the upright position. This card represents 'hesitation' and 'mystery'…Very interesting indeed."

'And weird, don't forget weird. '

"It seems you will encounter a misfortune at your destination, and a great mystery will be imposed upon you. In the coming days, you will enter into a contract of some sort, after which you will return here."

'Wait, what? Why are you making it seem like this is actually happening?'

"The coming year is a turning point in your destiny… If the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost. My duty is to provide assistance to our guests to ensure that does not happen." With one swipe, the pile of cards disappeared into thin air. Yu looked at the lady to see if she was still there and noticed she was anxiously looking back at the teen. He wondered if she was looking at him the entire time.

"Ah!" Igor exclaimed as if he remembered he was supposed to do something, "I've neglected to introduce my assistant to you." He gestured towards her and even looked at her, bringing Yu's attention to the lady.

"This is Margaret. She is a resident of this place, like myself." So you both live here? Like not step foot out this room?

"My name is Margaret." Whoa, she sounds as pretty as she looks, "I am here to accompany you through your journey."

"We shall attend to the details another time," Igor interrupted, "Until then, farewell…" As soon as he said those words, Yu began to black out again…

* * *

Yu opened his eyes to be back in his seat in the small train. He had woken up, apparently, from the most bizarre dream-state he had ever been in: an old, senile, creepy, and philosophical old man with the longest nose he had ever seen served by a beautiful young lady in blue, in a limousine that was entirely blue, telling him his fortune of misfortune will be inevitable and that he would have to go through it.

'If that's not crazy, then the world is insane,' he thought bitterly. He looked out the window to watch the clouds pass over the sky and the green grass of the farmlands wave to and fro as the train zips by. He was no longer on the sleek, fast bullet train, but a two-car dinky shack that moved slower than molasses. At least the view was nice and the cherry blossoms were out. For now, Yu watched the scene fly by as the train crawled closer to its final destination.

-_Cloudy - 4:00 PM-_

_A Residence in an Inaba Neighborhood, Yasoinaba, Japan_

A man and his daughter were watching their television quietly, most likely about the most recent affair case. An alarm rang on his phone, showing it was 4:00 PM.

"It's about that time," he said with his deep, hardened voice. The little girl looked up at her dad and followed him to the front door.

_Yasoinaba Train Station_

"_Welcome to Yasoinaba Station. Welcome to Yasoinaba Station. Doors will open to your right. Welcome to Yasoinaba Station. Welcome to Yasoinaba Station. Doors will open to your right…"_

The doors opened as Yu grabbed his bags and proceeded to the terminal. The scene that played out before him was one he was not expecting. The station itself was old and run-down with a vending machine to the right and the ticket counter to the left. He stood at the top of the steps and surveyed the area.

If there was one word to describe his first impression, the word would be "dead". There was absolutely no movement about. At least the cherry blossoms were out and made it seem really peaceful, like the term "rest in peace" actually hold value here.

"It sure is quiet here," he mused. Moving on from the rather uninspiring first impression, Yu reached in his pocket for his uncle's contact information and address. It should not be too hard to find in a town this small, apparently. He was unfolding the paper when a rogue gust of wind blew it out of his hand.

'Well, shit,' he muttered to himself, moving to chase after the paper. He didn't know how he missed it, but the piece of paper landed on a pair of thigh-high black boots. Gazing upwards, there was a pair of knee-high black and white striped socks, a red plaid skirt, a black studded belt, a white sleeveless shirt, a pair of black, white and red, arm socks, and a face of a girl who was too pretty to ignore. She had short, face-length black hair and the greenest eyes he had ever seen. Her skin was fair, almost the perfect paleness and was rather short. She looked at the paper that was caught on her boots and picked it up. She walked through the piles of cherry leaves towards him, with the sheet of paper in hand. Once she neared him, she briskly handed the sheet of paper back.

"Here. You dropped this," she spoke in a rather unfriendly voice.

"Thanks," Yu replied, being a generally nice guy.

"Whatever. It's not like I did anything," she mumbled as she walked away. Just who was that girl?

Not a second later, two pairs of footsteps could be heard approaching from the other direction.

"Hey! Over here!" the large man said with a smile while waving his free hand. He was wearing a dark grey shirt, black pants, black shoes, and a red tie. He swung his suit jacket over his left shoulder and looked really intimidating without that smile. A little girl followed on his right side dressed in a pink overall with a white shirt underneath. She had twin brown pigtails. Yu walked up to them to see if they were his hosts.

"Well you're more handsome in person than in the photo your mother sent. Welcome to Inaba. I'm Ryotaro Dojima. I'm your mother's younger brother…and that just about sums it up." When was the last time he saw him? Yu pretty sure it was way back in the day when he used to come out to wherever Yu's parents were at the time. Of course, he stopped coming up when he had a daughter, and then Yu's aunt died in a fatal car accident and he stopped talking to anyone in general.

"Yu?" Dojima grabbed his attention back, having spaced out for a second.

"Oh. Yeah, it's been a long time," Yu replied, letting out a hearty chuckle.

"I'll say. You've really grown. I still remember when you were in diapers, haha!" For an introduction, Yu thought it best to leave that part out… Dojima then pulled out his daughter from his side and coerces her to the front.

"This here's my daughter. Come on, Nanako, introduce yourself." So this was the cousin Yu's mother mentioned. She was indeed incredibly shy. She was looking down at her feet out of sheer nervousness.

"…"

"…"

"…'lo" she mumbled, barely audible to the human ear. Dojima looked down at his daughter and started to laugh.

"Haha! What're you so shy for?" Nanako slapped him rather hard in the leg, well hard for a six-year-old at least. She grumbled at the man while hiding her face in embarrassment. Yu chuckled along as well, seeing that was quite the cute reaction. Dojima turned his attention back to him.

"Well, then… Let's get going. My car's over there."

It was an older model Isuzu Rodeo, but compared to the town itself, one could say it was one of the luxury vehicles in this town. Yu's parents always drove around in designated company cars, which were almost always Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, or BMW and the top of the line cars of those brands. So having to be driven around in a normal person's car was almost a welcoming and sobering change. Now, the distance they drove from the station to the central business district wasn't too bad of a drive in (10 minutes at most). The radio was tuned to the news station talking about Secretary Namatame having an affair with the Yamano reporter lady. Yu didn't really care too much on those subjects; they were always superficial and never focused on the true story behind it.

"So, I hear your parents are moving to Germany for the year. Must be exciting for them," Dojima suddenly said, trying to start a conversation. It wasn't working well because all Yu had to answer was…

"Yeah."

"Not much of a talker, are you? Don't sweat it. Just make yourself welcome here." Dojima felt a pull on his arm and saw Nanako squirming.

"Daddy…potty time…hurry…" Luckily, there was a gas station around the corner.

Moel: one of the most popular providers of fuel in Japan. Yu believed they are a subsidiary of the Kirijo Group, but he could be wrong. His mother would know about it, but he didn't feel like asking her. For a rundown town, this gas station looked pretty normal, although when they pulled up, there was an attendant there. He did think it safe to assume that this station was definitely not self-serve like the ones in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Sendai. They pulled into the first available pump and the attendant rushed over to them. Either he was happy to be doing his job, or he was going insane in the head, because no one is ever this happy pouring gas into a gas tank for a living.

"Can you go by yourself?" Dojima asked his daughter with concern.

"Uh-huh," Nanako replied as she ran off towards the bathroom. Apparently, the attendant thought she was lost.

"It's in the back, to your left. Do you know which way is left? The side you don't hold your chopsticks in! Haha." Nanako looked back visibly irked.

"I know…geeez…" she answered and ran off. The attendant turned his(?) ('I'd hate to say it, but there is nothing remotely masculine about this dude,' Yu thought rather confused.) attention to us. He probably wanted business by the excited way he was looking at Dojima.

"So, are you taking a trip?" the attendant asked excitedly.

"Nah, we just picked him up at the station. He just moved here from Tokyo."

"Tokyo, huh?" he asked with amazement. Both the attendant and Dojima glanced down at the gas tank.

"Fill 'er up while you're at it. Regular's fine," the attendant looked quite happy. Yu was quite honestly hoping for a self-serve station. This guy is talking way too much. He noticed Dojima starting to walk away from the gas station, reaching into his shirt pocket grabbing a white carton of what is presumably a cigarette.

"Good a time as any for a smoke…" Yu was not sure if that was directed at him or Dojima, himself, but Yu watched him walk to the side of the main street and puff smoke. He just hoped Dojima doesn't smoke in the house…

"Does it surprise a city boy to see how little there is out here? There's so little to do. I'm sure you'll get bored fast. You'll either be hanging out with your friends or doing part-time jobs. Speaking of which, we're actually looking for part-time help right now. Give it some thought, why don't you? We don't mind you're a student," the attendant rambled as he stretched out his hand for a handshake.

'Holy shit he likes to talk a lot, and was now asking for a handshake. I guess there'd be no harm in accepting a handshake; it's good to be polite anyways.' Yu firmly took his hand and shook it, much like he would when meeting strangers.

"Oh, I should get back to work."

"Okay…" Yu watched him go back to doing whatever he was doing when…

"Unnngggh!" Yu grunted as he caught his head. A sharp pain rushed through his brain, making him feel rather queasy. The light suddenly got brighter, the sounds of the passing cars and conversations louder, and the vibrations got stronger for a split second. The food, it was definitely the food he bought on the train. In-transit meals weren't the greatest after all. He should probably stay away from coach food from now on. When Yu lifted his head, he saw Nanako staring up at him in worry; he didn't even catch her come back from the bathroom.

"Are you okay? Are you…car-sicking? You don't look good." Now that she mentioned it, Yu still felt a little dizzy from the onset of mental food poisoning, if that was even possible. Dojima also arrived back from his smoke break and also caught onto Yu's dizzy spell.

"Hey, you okay there? Must've been the trip over. Why don't you take a walk around the shopping district to get a feel for it, yeah?" It actually sounded like a good idea.

It looked old. It looked rundown. It looked like he walked into 1950 and never came out. Were these buildings even earthquake-proof? Yu questioned the town's running infrastructure. He looked to the other side of the gas station and saw something, or someone, he was totally not expecting. It was the girl that picked up his note from the train station. Her arms were still folded in the same manner as they were at the train station. She stood there silently, staring intensely at the area to the right of the blacksmith shop.

'Wait, they have blacksmiths in this area? Well, it's not too surprising now since this is out in the middle of nowhere.' In any case, he walked up to the girl to see what she was up to.

"Hey," Yu greeted quite plainly. She turned her head towards him, confused and rather irritated.

"…"

"…have we met before?" Now HE was confused. Surely the girl remembered the note she picked up back at the station.

"At the station. You picked up my note. Thanks, again, for that."

"…I don't remember…" she muttered, almost sadly, turning her attention back to the blacksmith. Yu gave up on talking to her and walked back to the car. He guessed it wasn't so bad. Girls came up and talked to him all of the time at all of his other schools, but he didn't think much of it. He also talked to other people, but it was mostly superficial.

"You feel any better?" Dojima asked.

"Yeah. That cleared up my head a little."

"It's a small town, but you'll get used to it." On that note, they hopped back into the car and drove off to the house.

* * *

-_Cloudy – 6:00 PM-_

_Dojima Residence_

It was a nice, quaint house, notably one of the bigger houses in town. It may look a bit worn on the outside, but it still seemed livable. It was a two story house situated on a slope. There was a car port next to the house and a scooter parked in front. To the left of the house were a patch of land and a mound of dirt, along with gardening tools. Yu took a step into the front gate while looking at the forlorn skies. The clouds got noticeably darker as the day went and looked like it was about to shed its tears. He hadn't even noticed the sun growing dangerously close to disappearing behind the hills.

Inside, the first thing Yu noticed was the low ceiling. This was typical of a rural Japanese house, and he was a bit tall for the male gender. Dojima was pretty tall, too, but it never was a problem. The beam separating the front of the house to the living room almost touched the top of Yu's head.

In the living room, Yu took note of the long couch at one end of the room, an old TV at the other end, and a kotatsu at the center. He presumed this was the area where they ate their meals, as the table in the kitchen area was filled with papers and sitting room for only two people.

Back on the living room table, Yu took note of the three sushi bentos that lined three out of the four sides, along with a drink for each. Dojima took one side, the side of the couch, and Nanako took the side nearest to the window. Yu thought it would be best to sit on the side of the kitchen. It was quiet for a good five minutes before Dojima raised his glass.

"I know this was supposed to be your welcoming party, but I'm not much of a cook and Nanako is a bit too young to cook, so here it is. All right, let's have a toast. To a good year will you make your home here in Inaba." Yu smiled softly along with the rest of the household.

"Ah, so you don't show any emotion, just like my sister, ha ha. So they decided to work in Germany, huh."

'Why do you keep bringing that up?'

"I know it's only for a year, but getting stuck in a place like this because of your parents… it's rough being a kid."

'Tell me about it… all I want to do is stay in one place longer and I get shipped off to the middle of nowhere…'

"Well, it's just me and Nanako here, so it'll be nice having someone like you around for a change. So long as you're here, you're part of the family. So make yourself at home." The least Yu could do in this respect was be grateful of the hospitality, even though it didn't work out like he planned. These were nice people, so he should at least return the kindness.

"Thank you for your kindness; it's much appreciated." Dojima chuckled again.

"C'mon! There's no need to be so formal. You're even making Nanako all tense!" Yu looked across from him to find Nanako fidgeting and blushing, while trying to keep hold of her chopsticks. He then noticed behind Nanako that it started to rain.

'Weird, the forecast on my phone said otherwise…weather can be a strange thing…'

"Well, anyway… Let's eat," Dojima finally said.

"Itadakimasu," the entire table said in unison while clasping their hands together. Just as Dojima was about to pick up the sashimi on his plate, a phone suddenly rang instantly killing the lively mood that had just been set.

"Ugh…who's calling at the hour?! It better not be that rookie they just set me up with."

Even Nanako's face dropped instantly as if she was expecting it to happen. Dojima's eyebrows instantly furrowed as he glared at the phone. He reluctantly stood up picked up the phone and answered, quite exasperatingly.

"…Dojima speaking…"

"…"

"…Yeah? I see… So where is it?"

"…"

"…Uh huh…"

"…Alright, I'm on my way." He hung up the phone and looked at the rest of us. He had a forlorn expression on his face and looked like he needed to make up an excuse.

"Looks like I made the right choice to skip the booze… Sorry, but I gotta go take care of some business. Go ahead and eat without me. I don't know how late I'll be. Help him out, okay Nanako?" She looked saddened, but the kind of sad where one was used to it and it was just another day, a normal routine.

"…Okay," she mumbled sadly. Dojima turned to make his way to the front door and noticed it was raining outside.

"Nanako! It's raining out. What did you do with the laundry?!"

"I already brought it in!"

"All right. Well, I'm off!" The door was shut and the silence took over. It was, in the least, an awkward silence. Yu didn't know much about her and Nanako didn't know much about him. Not knowing what to do, she reached over to the remote and turned on the old television. It was flipped on to the news channel, with a female being the featured reporter this evening. It seemed the news was just finished a segment, most likely on the Yamano/Namatame scandal, and was now on the subject of the weather.

"_Now, let's take a look at the hourly breakdown of tomorrow's weather. With storm clouds moving in from the west, expect rain throughout the day tomorrow in most areas."_

'Well, that's good to know… It is a bit quiet in here. Maybe I should talk to her. If my memory serves me right, my uncle is a police officer of sorts… a detective, maybe?'

"So you're dad's a detective, right?" Yu asked out of curiosity.

"He…investigates stuff… Like crime scenes."

'So I was right…'

"He's a detective."

"_And now for the local news. City council secretary Taro Namatame is under fire for an alleged relationship with a female reporter."_

'Are we really doing this again?'

"_His wife, enka ballad sensation Misuzu Hiiragi, revealed to this station that she will likely pursue damages. In response, Eye Television has decided to cancel all of announcer Mayumi Yamano's televised appearances. Until allegations of an affair with Mr. Namatame are resolved, she'll remain off the air and out of the public eye."_

"This is boring…" Nanako whined. Yu wholeheartedly agreed with her. She flipped the channel and on came a very familiar commercial.

"_At Junes, every day is Customer Appreciation Day! Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products. Every day's great at your Junes!"_

As if on cue, Nanako's entire demeanor flipped within a split second. She sang the theme song, verbatim.

"Every day's great at your Junes!" She caught Yu staring at her in surprise and wonder of how her mood can flip like a switch. To even more of Yu's amazement, Nanako's mood flipped again to her depressed state and stared back at him. She noticed that he was still holding his chopsticks.

"…Are you going to eat?" They ate in silence afterwards.

-_Rainy – 9:00 PM-_

Yu knew he had school starting the next morning, so he decided to forgo his unpacking of the pile of boxes that littered his room (at least he unpacked his school supplies and his uniform that he will need). While unpacking that box, he came across his old uniform: a simple suit with a black tie. Memories flooded back to him of his last day there…

-_Flashback to 3/18/2011-_

It was a cool, spring morning in Sinagawa District, Tokyo, Japan at a local private school where Yu Narukami attended for his last day. He stood at the front of the class, with the teacher about to make the announcement. His face held little emotion, but his head was cast downwards.

"As you may all have heard, Narukami will be transferring to another school." The class was in an instant uproar, deeply saddened to lose their best student and best basketball player. He didn't talk much, but apparently won the approval of the entire class. He only played basketball as a form of exercise, but was really good at it (must've come from the genes). And to the ladies, he was good-looking, cute, hot, whatever glorious adjective to best describe his physical attributes. It was all for naught, though, as he would be leaving them the next day. It was inevitable, but Yu could do nothing about it…

-_End Flashback-_

He looked at his new uniform, a much simpler outer jacket with the school's logo on the upper left with gold hardware. This is where he will be staying and going to school for the next year, not that he was that happy about it, not that he'll try to do anything about it.

"So I'm stuck here for a whole year…" he muttered to himself as he sat down on the couch. He noted the small TV in front of him and listened to the rain splatter on the windows quite loudly. It was this rain that put his mind into a resting state with the constant drone of the water running down the window sill. His eyes began to feel heavy and eventually shut on its own. He fell fast into a deep sleep…

* * *

-_?-_

"MMMPH!" Yu grunted as he landed face-first onto the pavement. He opened his eyes to check his surroundings to find himself encased in a thick shroud of fog. He couldn't see anything further than the length of his arms and could barely see the floor. From what he could tell, it was a strange red brick pattern with an ominous accent of black.

'…?! Where the hell am I?!' he frantically thought as his mind degraded to a state of panic as he tried to look for any clues to his own whereabouts. With nowhere to go, his only option was to move forward and hope for an exit.

Walking forward, he noticed the air around him start to get heavier. A few more steps forward, he noticed a very indistinct voice talking to him. Whether it was in or out of his head didn't matter at this point; he was freaked out he was hearing voices.

"Do you seek the truth?" the monotonous, indistinct voice rang throughout the area. Yu didn't really know how to respond to that.

"If it's the truth you desire, the try and catch it…" He came upon a red portal-like wall as the voice trailed off.

'Well, there's only one way to find out…we'll see what happens on the other side. And I didn't even finish high school.' The second he stepped through the portal, there was a figure ahead. He was only able to catch a glimpse of it before he seemingly blacked out…

* * *

-_4/12/2011 – Cloudy – 1:00 AM-_

_The Grand Bay Hotel – Osaka, Japan_

A girl around the same age as Yu collapsed on her hotel bed. She had just finished a meet and greet after a show in the area. By her drooping eyes and slow demeanor, she was exhausted. They played five shows straight for five days and were about to leave for another area of Japan in the morning, 5:30 in the morning. They had been doing this for well over two years straight with little to no breaks, only one day during Christmas and New Years to take off. She gritted her teeth to bear it, only to feel like she was losing her grip on her leash. She needed to get her mind off of the fame, the show biz, and the various personas that the media built for her. She instantly thought of the boy long ago with dark silver hair. She couldn't remember the name or the face or what they did, but she knew he was special to her. Thoughts of him kept her sane for the most part, but even that was now slipping away. She tugged her twin maroon pigtails and drifted quietly to sleep.


	2. A Beginner's Guide to Television Sets

**Chapter 2: A Beginner's Guide to Television Sets**

-_4/12/2011 – Rainy – 7:00 AM-_

_Dojima Household, Yasoinaba, Japan_

Rain. It was soothing in the least. The grey skies dumped buckets of water onto the town below without a single care in the world. Apparently, the Gods seemed to be in a depressed mood all through the night as Yu Narukami opened his eyes to the sounds of water splattering down the windows. It had not stopped raining since the evening when Dojima left for work. Did he even come home during the night? Yu pushed those thoughts aside as he lifted himself off the couch and threw on his new school's uniform.

This uniform was remarkably simple. It was a plain, old black school jacket with white, hand-sewn seams and gold-colored buttons and emblems. What Yu guessed was the school's insignia could be found at the upper left chest area with the name of the school just below it. Even the pants were hand-sewn with the same white stitching used on the jacket. Like most schools in Japan, the shirt beneath the jacket was supposed to be white, a very professional and very traditional attire. Yu looked himself in the mirror and buttoned up before making his way into the downstairs bathroom.

Breakfast was an entirely different scene. Yu had expected to make his own breakfast, which was the norm at his parents' house; they would always wake up and leave early, and come home too late for dinner. That's not to say that Yu didn't interact much with his parents; he talked to them a lot, just not in a family-oriented dinner setting. He knew they worked hard to be where they were at, and Yu was thankful for every minute of it. That wasn't to say that he was happy, either. He longed to bond with his parents on a deeper level than just the hour or so they talked on a daily basis. As he reflected upon those thoughts, the little girl in the house came up to him with a plate of sunny side eggs and toast. He looked around to find if the man of the house was anywhere to be seen, only to find him missing.

"Did your dad ever come home last night?" Yu asked, unsure if he phrased it correctly. Thankfully, Nanako just nodded.

"Yeah, he came home a little after you went to bed. He left early this morning just as I woke up." Again, Yu noticed the expressionless tone laced with a hint of depression. The rain outside didn't make the mood any better. "Do you want your breakfast?" Nanako asked with a bit of uneasiness. Yu figured it would be best to eat it, even if it didn't taste as good to his standards. It was out of respect and gratitude for the hospitality, or so he told himself.

After devouring what was actually a pretty good sunny side up eggs and toast, Nanako offered a proposition.

"My school's on the way to your school. Let's walk together!" This time, her tone took on a more cheery disposition, probably because Yu actually ate the eggs and toast. Then, it dawned upon Yu that he hadn't the first clue where his high school was located.

'Yasogami High School, huh? Seems interesting.'

They both threw on their shoes and readied their umbrella and prepared to go. They stepped out into the endless rain and set off for school.

If one were to drive to the high school, it would take no more than five minutes, tops. If one were walking to the high school, it would take at least half an hour. In the rain like it was today, that number got pushed up to 45 minutes. Midway on the path upon the flood plains (which surprisingly didn't flood as the name suggested), Nanako suddenly stopped. Yu turned around to see if anything was wrong, but she wore a smile on her face. If anything, it was rather bizarre that a little child would smile in the rain. If he had went by anything he read in the countless books he's read, rain was a sign of melancholy, depression, and an ominous omen. Why a child would smile like this was beyond him.

"My school's this way and your school is just straight ahead. I'll see you at home!" she gleefully waved and darted off in another direction, trying to keep hold of her umbrella. If one didn't think that was the cutest thing in the world, Yu would certainly be confused.

It was in the neighborhood when Yu noticed a high school student ride his bike in the rain while holding an umbrella. It looked quite ridiculous, to be honest, almost like it was supposed to be part of a circus act. The student wobbled left and right until he was unable to maintain the little balance he had, crashing into the telephone poll.

"YEOOOWW!" the student yelled in agony, "…critical hit to the nads…"

Yu contemplated on what to do in this situation. Should he help him, or should he leave him? He looked down at his silver Movado watch and noticed he only had 10 minutes until class started, in which he had to check in with the teachers and receive his class schedule.

"I'll just leave him be…" he finally decided.

-_Rainy – 8:25 AM-_

_Yasogami High School_

It was a little while more until Yu finally reached the high school. Just as with any other building in town, the school looked old and worn. The while plaster that made up the outer walls were off-colored, so off-colored it was even noticeable in the rain. The texture of the plaster gave it a very weathered look, like it had been through hell and back and was still standing by a miracle. Yu could only guess what the inside would look like. If Yu had to comment on the size from the outside, he gauged he would develop claustrophobia once he stepped foot indoors. It really was that small of a high school.

Noting the people at the high school, Yu was expecting more of a "rural" feel. Instead, they all looked like normal high school students going to and from class. They all gossip, seem to be pretty close with each other, have the latest technology (that could've been partly Junes' doing, wherever that is). They all noticed him, though, being the sole person nobody knew and with the dark silver hair. He instantly heard whispers.

"Is that a new student?"

"I've never seen him before."

"Did he transfer?"

"What year is he in? He's pretty cute"

"Dude, that silver hair, though…"

He ignored most of the comments directed at him and made his way into the school building. Inside, there was half the amount of lockers than his previous school. All "shoe-switch" customs are the same, though. He stuffed his umbrella in the first of two umbrella bins. Walking towards the main hallway, he saw a long, black-haired girl in front on the main bulletin. She had bright red sweater on over her uniform, which to Yu was very abnormal to the rest of the student body. She had the fairest skin complexion as well as some serious curves. The way she was standing was very proper. In other words, she was beautiful, very beautiful. Yu, without any ulterior motives, walked up to her to ask for directions. Instantly, whispers started up again.

"Dude, is that guy gonna go for the Amagi Challenge?"

"You know how many guys did the Amagi Challenge and failed?"

"What does this guy think he has over anyone else?"

As usual, Yu ignored the snide comments towards him and tapped the shoulder of the girl, who was staring up at the bulletin.

"Excuse me," Yu started, grabbing her attention. She swiftly turned with her face mixed with surprise and terror. She instantly reeled back at the sight of an unknown tall man with dark silver hair. She wondered if she should speak to him, or push him away and call for help. Thankfully, she chose the former.

"C-c-can I help you?" she stuttered, now sweating bullets. Yu was really confused at her behavior; he didn't think he was _that_ intimidating.

"Uh…do you know where the faculty office is? I'm kinda new here and I need to pick up my class schedule." In an instant, she let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh. It's just down this hallway and the second right. You shouldn't miss it."

"Thanks." With that, Yu made his way to the faculty office.

Like with any Japanese high school, the faculty camped out in a particular room as their base of operations. Teachers roamed the classrooms instead of the other way (students roaming the classroom) apparent in the western culture that Yu had experienced before. He slid open the door and saw a lone man standing there.

If Yu had to describe this teacher, it would be along the lines of a geek nerd with no sense of fashion whatsoever. He was wearing a blue pinstripe suit with a yellow tie and matching slacks that were probably too short for him. His most notable feature, though, was the existence of an overbite that destroyed all overbites. This gave him quite the bucktooth appearance and a very menacing aura. Yu already didn't like this teacher. Even the way he spoke irritated the teen.

"Are you Narukami?" he said in a grunted voice.

"Yes."

"You're in my class. The name's Morooka. Follow me so I can introduce your ugly mug. Oh, and here's your schedule."

'I hate him already…' Yu cursed himself as he took the slip of paper.

He followed the bucktoothed teacher to the second floor, where Yu assumed that this was where the second-year classrooms were. The teacher stopped at the second door to the right of the main stairs. The sign above read "2-2", which probably meant "Year 2, Class 2." The teacher opened the door and took the podium at the center of the classroom. Yu knew he still had to wait outside to be called in. He could hear the various conversations going on inside. Yu decided to hone in on a particular conversation.

"Talk about bad luck… The homeroom teacher here is Morooka, isn't it?" a sitting student complained.

"Yeah, it's King Moron, alright… we get to enjoy his long-ass sermons every day for a whole year," his friend added to the complaint. A female student walked over to the two boys.

"Hey, you guys. I heard there's a transfer student from the city in this class."

"Huh? Really? A guy or a girl?" Yu decided to tune out that conversation and hone in on another one. This one involved a brown-haired girl in a green jacket and a boy with orange headphones looking worse for dead.

"…Huh? You look dead today," the green-clad girl started, almost in pity.

"Yeah, um…I don't wanna talk about it…" the headphone-wearing boy muttered, barely audible.

"…what's with him?"

"Who knows?" another girl speaks up, with Yu drawing attention to the new voice, and a familiar voice. She was the red-sweater girl he ask directions from this morning.

'So she's in my class…' Suddenly, the teacher cleared his throat, grabbing everyone's attention. He then glared at Yu, which was the sign to take the stage with the irritable man.

"I'm Kinshiro Morooka, your homeroom teacher from today forward! First things first! Just 'cause it's spring doesn't mean you can swoon over each other like love-struck baboons. As long as I'm around, you students are going to be pure as the driven snow! Now I hate wasting my time, but I'd better introduce this transfer student. This sad sack's been thrown from the big city out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage. And he's just as much of a loser here as he was there, so you girls better not get any ideas about hitting on him! Tell 'em your name, kid, and make it quick!"

Yu had been around teachers all of his life. They would all come to him for opinions on a subject matter, or ask for assistance in a particular subject matter that even the teacher had trouble understanding. They all loved him due to his high technical and academic prowess. He loved some teachers, and disliked others. But never before had he felt so much hatred for the pathetic excuse of a man beside him. He remembered that it wouldn't even matter if he screwed up his first impression here since he would leave in a year anyways. Students in the classroom could see crosses populate his forehead.

'Fuck it! I'm going bonkers with this guy.' Yu turned to the man, who was hunched over and a full forehead shorter than he was, and glared down at him. Yu then uttered these words in the lowest register possible.

"…you calling me a loser?" Yu growled, expecting the man to shutdown, only doing the exact opposite. Morooka's eyes went red, and his face went livid. He slammed his fists on the podium and glared up towards the silver-haired teen.

"THAT'S IT! YOU'RE ON MY ROTTEN LITTLE SHIT LIST!" Morooka yelled at poor Yu Narukami while forcefully driving his free finger at Yu's chest, not that Yu was having any of it.

"What next? You're gonna tell me that this town is miles away from my big city of perverts and assholes? And that I shouldn't even think of getting involved with the girls here?" Yu countered with the same low, threatening voice. Morooka now felt even more threatened.

"WHY YOU LITTLE-" Morooka raised his hand to presumable smack the shit out of Yu, only to be caught mid-air by none other than Yu Narukami's right hand, and brought it down to a handshake. To add even more fun on top of what just happened…

"By the way, my name is Yu Narukami. I transferred here from Tokyo," he calmly said with a slight smirk and slowly turning his head to face the rest of the class, "I hope to enjoy this year with you all. And please forgive my improper behavior; I'm usually not like this unless provoked." He released Morooka's hand and bowed to the class. Even Morooka was rendered speechless.

'Well there goes any hope of making friends here, not that it mattered anyways… I should probably find a seat.' Yu looked up to find any empty seats.

"Yo, new guy!" the girl in green waved, "Wanna sit here?" Sure enough, there was an empty seat next to the girl. Yu calmly walked over and took his seat, hearing whispers yet again.

"Dude, the transfer student's a badass. Who knew?"

"I need to be like him."

"He's a ray of hope for this class!"

"This just made him 10 times hotter."

Once Yu found his seat next to the green-jacket girl, she leaned over to speak to him.

"So we call him King Moron…he's an ass…"

"Yeah, I can tell."

"QUIET, YOU TWO!" King Moron, which Yu will now address him as, yelled at the two, "Now, it's not like the old days. Even here, kids grow up so damn fast. Every time I turn my back, you're fooling around on those damn phones, checking your life-journals and you're my-places…"

'I'm just going to sleep this guy off…' Before dosing off, Yu took a glance outside. He noticed something strange about the weather…

'…Is that fog?'

* * *

-_Foggy – 12:00 PM-_

_Somewhere near the School District_

A girl with medium brown hair walked towards the campus with her tote bag in tow. She decided she would arrive late due to lack of sleep. Her part-time job and her parents were running her ragged. She was beyond stressed. It was foggy throughout the area and she couldn't see past her arms.

'All this fog…it's kind of comforting not seeing anything around you. Let's you escape the world full of stress, pain, and failure, just like alcohol… great, thinking about the shop again…'

She looked around her and noticed that she had to turn at the corner. It looked relatively normal aside from one thing. As she looked up at the TV antenna on house in front of her, she saw something that was out of place, and definitely not supposed to be there…

A scream was suddenly heard for miles.

* * *

-_Foggy – 3:30 PM-_

"_Attention, all teachers. Please report immediately to the Faculty Office for a brief staff meeting. All students must return to their classrooms and are not to leave the school until further notice."_

"Yah hear that, you brats?! Stay in your damn seats!" King Moron yelled before muttering to himself his hatred of students as he walked out and slammed the door.

"He's seriously getting on my nerves…" a brown-haired student started complaining. She looked outside and saw the same thing Yu saw when he sat down. "Is that fog?" Sirens can be heard in the distance, awfully close to the school grounds.

"Did something happen?" one student excitably questioned, "Don't the sirens sound really close?"

"Ugh, I can't see a damn thing. Frickin' fog…" an excited student muttered.

"Yeah, like every time it rains lately, it gets all foggy," a second student said. A third student walked up to the two.

"Hey, did you hear? I hear the paparazzi's looking all over for that announcer."

'So EVERYBODY'S talking about it here…' Yu mentally groaned. He was just about sick of hearing the same things over and over again.

"Oh, yeah. You mean Mayumi Yamano, right? I heard some guys spotted her in the shopping district," the second student replied.

"I actually heard about that…" the third student joined in, lowering to a whisper to where Yu couldn't hear the next words. The second student inhaled sharply.

"Are you serious?!" He turned his attention to the girl in the red sweater, "H-Hey Yukiko-san. Mind if I ask you something…?" The girl in the red sweater, who was named Yukiko, turned her head towards the group. "Is it true that the announcer's staying at your family's inn?" Yukiko looked conflicted, and decided to opt out.

"I can't discuss such things."

Yu was listening in on all of these conversations, not really having anyone to talk to at the moment. Even the green-jacket girl was tricking up a conversation with Yukiko about something about rainy nights and how that Yamano lady was some dude's soul mate…Yu didn't want to even bother asking. A shadow loomed over him though, and he looked up to his left to find a short girl with blue hair walked up to him.

"So you're the new student," she greeted…in the most expressionless tone that reminded Yu of his mother.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Nice to meet you. My name's Aika Nakamura. Hope we can be friends." She followed it with a quick bow.

"Yeah. Hope so, too." Even more girls walked up to his desk after Aika returned to her own seat. Yu was spared the conversation when the school's PA kicked on.

"_Attention students! There has been an incident inside the school district. Police officers have been dispatched around the School Zone. Please stay calm and contact your parents or guardians as soon as possible, and quickly leave the school grounds. Do not disturb the police officers. Head directly home. I repeat…"_

"Incident?!" a girl yelped.

"Something actually happened?" said girl's friend questioned her.

"C'mon! Let's go check it out!" the brown-haired girl from earlier boldly suggested. It seemed she has recovered from the Moron spiel earlier.

Everyone stood up to leave the campus, Yu not being the exception. He was planning to make the trek home by himself when two girls stopped him.

"Hey, are you going home by yourself?" the green-jacket girl asked.

"I was planning t-"

"Why don't you come with us? This thing sounds kinda freaky…" Yu thought about it for a quick second, quickly weighing the pros and cons of walking home with two girls. He figured it wouldn't do any harm.

"Sure, uh…" Yu trailed off due to knowing their names at all…

"Oh, nearly forgot," the green-jacket girl chuckled, "I'm Chie Satonaka. You know I sit next to you, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, nice to meet you! Over here to my right is Yukiko Amagi." She gestured over to Yukiko, the girl in the red sweater. Yukiko looked long and hard at Yu, as if trying to remember something. After a few seconds, a light bulb went off in her head.

"Oh! You're the guy who asked me for directions this morning! It's nice to meet you…I'm sorry this is so sudden…" Chie scoffed at her friend.

"Wait, you two met each other already? WHY DIDN'T I HEAR ABOUT THIS?! And don't apologize; it makes me look bad…" As if on cue, the student who wiped out on his bike this morning came up to Chie with pleading eyes. It seemed this student was in trouble, for he looked worse for wear.

"Ummm, uh, ummmm, Miss Satonaka…" the clumsy student trailed off with uneasiness, "This…was really awesome. Like, the way the moved was just amazing to see…and…" he trailed off again, not before thrusting out the DVD in question, "I'm really sorry! It was an accident! Please have mercy on me 'til my next paycheck!"

'Well that was one hell of a switch,' Yu thought. The student made a break for the door, running almost past Chie. She, however, was not happy. She could guess what was wrong with the DVD, but didn't want to believe it. Still…

"Hold it right there," she commanded, whilst kicking the student in the crotch and said student performing the perfect face-plant. As if the sky opened up, Chie opened the DVD case that held the DVD inside only to find the DVD inside was cracked…straight down the middle.

"WHAT THE HELL?! IT'S CRACKED, YOU TOOL! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY TRIAL OF THE DRAGON?!"

"…I think mine's cracked too…Critical hit to the nads…" Yukiko looked down, not sure if she should be laughing or worried.

"A-Are you alright?" Suddenly, the downed student looked up, with a glimmering ray of hope.

"Oh, Yukiko-san… You worried about me?" Chie scoffed again.

"He's fine, Yukiko. Let's ditch him and go." The both left the classroom, with Yu following suit. He took one last look at the downed student.

"I'll just leave him be…" he muttered to himself.

They exited the school's front doors and were approaching the school gate when Chie decided to strike up a conversation. The fog had just cleared up.

"So why are you here?"

"My parents are working over in Germany. I was originally supposed to go over there, but begged to stay in Tokyo. But, things didn't work out like I had hoped and now I'm talking to you guys…not that there's anything wrong with it," Yu replied nonchalantly.

"So you came here because of your parents' job? Haha! I thought it was way more serious."

"But that is interesting, don't you think, Chie?" Yukiko added on, attempting to join in.

"I guess it is. Well, we'll show you the ropes around here in no time!" Chie announced excitedly. Looking at Yukiko, Chie developed a mischievous smirk on her face. She then directed her attention to Yu.

"So, tell me. You think Yukiko's cute, huh?" Chie asked, her conniving face plastered with mischief and curiosity. Yu slightly panicked, not knowing what to do in this situation. He had always believed he would one day meet the girl in maroon hair again. He had always dreamed of the day, but if only he could remember everything else that happened. It felt like he would be somewhat cheating on the girl if he decided to answer. But, he pushed it aside as Yu had the rule "You can look, but you can't touch," so he decided to answer anyways.

Remembering from this morning, Yu took note of her long, black hair, accented by the red headband she wore. Complement that with a tight-fitting red sweater that _really_ accented her slender-but-curvy figure (the kind all women would die for). Her perfectly fair skin gave way to the perfect face. Her posture and mannerisms dictated that of elegance and etiquette, whilst maintaining the innocence of a sheltered, young woman. It was like Yu found the perfect girl by all standards, an example for other young women to follow. She was the embodiment of purity, innocence, and elegance. So it all boiled down to one answer:

"Yeah, I think she's pretty cute," Yu responded (finally) in the most nonchalant way he could. Yukiko, as expected, turned a deeper shade of red than a ripe tomato.

"Ha! I knew it!" Chie exclaimed. Yukiko sunk into her red sweater, desperately attempting to hide her face from the now uninterested Yu Narukami.

"…Come on, don't start this again…"

'So she's put her through this before?' Yu thought, curious to why Chie would set her up in the first place.

"She's really popular at school."

'No kidding. I'd be surprised if she was _not_ popular.'

"But, she's never had a boyfriend. Kinda weird, huh?"

'Now you that mention it, that _is_ weird she doesn't have a boyfriend. Then again, based on what I've heard this morning, I'd be surprised if she'd like any guy at the school at all…' Yukiko sunk even lower into her sweater.

"C-Come on, stop it," Yukiko attempted to chastise her friend, which she was failing miserably at. She turned her attention to Yu as best as she could, "Y-You shouldn't believe that, okay? It's not true that I'm popular or that I never had a boyfriend!" She paused and realized her mistake, not that Yu cared anyways, "Wait, no! Wh-What I meant to say was… I _don't_ need a boyfriend! Geez, Chie…" Chie only chuckled at her friend's embarrassment.

"Hahaha! Sorry, sorry. But this is our chance to talk to somebody from the big city, and you barely said a word!" Chie continued to laugh and provoke Yukiko. The three continued their walk off campus.

* * *

-_Cloudy – 4:00 PM-_

_Somewhere near the School District_

The scene was rather busy with police officers and an ambulance, not that the ambulance was necessary at that point. The entire intersection was blocked off by yellow crime tape. Officers are running around, looking for clues of to what went on earlier during the day. A stretcher with a body bag on top ran past a tall, rugged man in a grey shirt and a red tie. He motioned to stop the stretcher and slightly unzipped the bag. He checked the contents inside and nodded his head in confirmation. A younger man, dressed in a suit with unruly black hair, also took a look at the contents and proceeded to sprint to a corner and regurgitate the contents of what presumably was his lunch.

"Hey Adachi!" the rugged man roared, "How long're you gonna act like a rookie? You wanna be put back on desk work?!" The younger man took a break from vomiting and looked up at what presumably was his partner and superior.

"Sorry, boss. I'm just not used to seeing –" he was cut off again with the second onset of maniacal heaving. The rugged man looked up at the TV antenna, which was now draped with blue tarp. He let out a long sigh in frustration.

"What a sight…" he mused.

* * *

-_Cloudy – 6:00 PM-_

When Yu returned home an hour earlier, he noticed that Nanako was watching TV by herself. Her expressionless face told Yu that this was rather normal for her. Now, they were watching the local news where they had a segment on breaking news. The male reporter's tone depicted urgency and excitement…all at the same time.

"_Our top story this evening concerns a bizarre case in a quiet suburb. Around noon today, a woman was found dead near the Samegawa River in Inaba."_

Now this grabbed Yu's attention. He didn't hear about this earlier when walking home with Chie and Yukiko. On top of that, the fact that it happened near the School District was probably the reason why they were held back for a bit of time and the reason why there were police sirens wailing nearby the school. Nanako was also drawn to the television. Her question that followed puzzled Yu quite a bit.

"I wonder if Dad's not coming home again tonight…" This question made Yu sink inside. Who knew the man of the house would stay out late? Then again, a huge case happened and they needed an experienced detective on the scene. The report continued and what followed next sent the entire town into an uproar.

"_The deceased has been identified as Ms. Mayumi Yamano, a 27-year-old announcer at the local television station. The initial results of the Inaba Police Department's investigation have revealed that…" _Nanako's eyes widened.

"Ah! The Inaba Police Department! Th-That's where Dad works!"

"…" Nanako's demeanor reeled back into the emotionless, semi-depressed it was. This time, there was a hint of disappointment in her facial expression. Yu assumed this was happened on a normal basis and it was really hitting the poor little girl hard. Yu had to do something…say something…to reassure her.

"Hey, it'll be alright." She still wasn't satisfied by the comfort he attempted to give her.

"…I know. That's his job, so this stuff happens… a lot…"

'Wow, talk about giving up and submitting to depression…' The report continued.

"_The body was found hanging from a large television antenna atop a local resident's roof. Authorities are uncertain as to why the body was in such a state. With the cause of death also uncertain, police continue to investigate whether the death is an accident or a homicide. A thick fog common to the area has slowed their progress, and plans to fully canvas the area are delayed until tomorrow."_ Nanako looked intrigued by the report.

"They found her on the roof? That's scary…"

'For a 6-year-old to take interest in that is actually quite alarming…' Luckily the station decided to break for commercial when Nanako's mood completely changed, probably due to the commercial that was playing at the moment.

"Oh! It's Junes!" she beamed.

It was the Junes commercial, which Nanako had akin to singing along with the jingle. She sang the jingle and looked at Yu. He was wondering what to do in this situation. Ask her about it? Compliment her? Join her? Yu took the third option.

"Your Junes!" he followed Nanako. She looked happy, for once, and amazed.

"You memorized it already? I'm the best one in my class!" She kept singing the jingle to herself over and over again, completely forgetting about the report and story that just happened. It was one of those times where Yu was thankful for a normally annoying commercial. The story remained on Yu's mind, however. There were many questions unanswered about it: How did the body get there? When did it happen? Who would do such a thing? What was going on in the person's mind when they did that? As much as these questions nagged at Yu, he thought it best to leave it alone, less he wanted a one-way ticket to Germany. He decided to sleep the thoughts off, hoping to forget them by the next day…

* * *

-_4/13/2011 – Cloudy – 8:20 AM-_

_Near Yasogami High School_

~CRASH!~

Sounds of metal, plastic, rubber, and a groaning teenager could be heard throughout the neighborhood. A spinning wheel from that of a bicycle could also be heard. There was a student missing the entire upper-half of his body, which was swallowed up by the trashcan he landed in. Yu had seen accidents happen, but none of them compared the stupidity of the situation this poor lad had found himself in.

"Help! Someone! I'm stuck! Help me, someone!"

'Oh, hell…this was the guy who wiped out on a telephone pole yesterday in the rain while hilariously holding an umbrella. Maybe I should help him out. Just once.' Yu grabbed a hold of his torso and was easily able to lift him out of the evil trashcan of doom. He set the poor boy down on his feet and gave him some breathing room. He definitely smelled like… trashcan…

"Whew, you saved me. Thanks! Ummm…" the boy trailed off. Yu now took notice of the orange headphones and remembered that he sat directly behind him.

"Oh, yeah! That's right… you're the new transfer student who sits in front of me. Yu Narukami, right? I'm Yosuke Hanamura. Nice to meet yah!" If anything was running in Yu's mind at the moment, it was probably how on earth this kid could still be talking with an upbeat energy _right after_ taking the cake for the best trashcan tumble in the history of trashcan tumbles.

"Dude, are you okay?" Yu asked, just to make sure the kid didn't have brain damage.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Yosuke replied, not missing a beat. They walked to school together, with Yosuke deciding to not ride his bike in fear of another trashcan wipeout.

"So, you getting' used to this place?" Yosuke asked, trying to strike up a conversation.

"A bit. Still haven't had a chance to explore the town yet. So, yeah."

"Wow, that's fast. Just like you, I also moved from Tokyo a little before you did. There isn't much to do here compared to that city, but there is that certain… something you can't get anywhere else. The air's clean, the food's great… Oh, you know about the local delicacy? It's grilled steak, man! Like that's anything special, huh? ('I sense some sarcasm in there,' Yu thought) I know a place where you can get it cheap. Wanna come? You helped me out this morning, so it's on me."

"Did someone say 'STEAK?'" a female voice rang out from behind them. Yosuke grimaced at the familiar voice. They both turned their heads to find Chie behind them spinning what appeared to be her broken copy of "Trial of the Dragon." She wore a sneer on her face, clearly directed at the student with the bike.

"This is how you can pay for breaking my stuff," she proclaimed. It was looking pretty bad for Yosuke today.

* * *

-_Cloudy – 4:00 PM-_

_Junes Department Store Food Court_

"WHAT?! THIS ISN'T STEAK YOU DICKWAD!" Chie yelled.

"Well once you hopped on the freeloader train, my plans had to change!" Yosuke countered. Yu swore he could feel the table itself heat up from the aggressive banter between the two. The three had found themselves at the food court level of the department store chain with burgers, fries and a drink, well two of them had it; Yu took the other option of a grilled chicken sandwich with no fries and a drink, most likely iced tea.

"That's still not a reason to take us to _your_ place!"

"Dude! This isn't my place or anything…"

"Your place?" Yu asked Yosuke in confusion. Yosuke realized what the problem was.

"Oh, right. I haven't told you yet, huh? The reason why I moved here six months back was this location had just opened up, and my dad was assigned to manage it. So our entire family came out here." Yosuke held his drink up for a toast.

"Here, this is to welcome you to town. Satonaka, yours is on me too."

"You bet it is," Chie mumbled irritably. Small talk was engaged between the three about Junes when Chie abruptly changed the subject.

"Say, a lot of stores in the shopping district started closing, huh."

"…You can't blame it all on Junes, can you?"

'It seems like Yosuke really does care about the family business.' That's when Yosuke noticed something past Yu, like a coworker he seemed to be oddly familiar with.

"Hey…it's Saki-senpai! Senpai! SENPAI!" he yelled as he ran over to the brown-haired girl that had just sat down. Yu took a look at her and noted that she was very pretty, but looked worse for wear. Her eyes had bags underneath them and her head was cast downwards. Yu could almost make out a frown as she noticed Yosuke making her way towards her.

"Hey. What's up Hana-chan?" the girl, known as Saki, greeted half-heartedly. Yu looked confused at the newcomer, which Chie decided to help him out on.

"Who's that?"

"Oh, that's Saki Konishi, a third year. Her family runs a liquor store in the shopping district. She's pretty cool, and pretty, too. What did you think he was his girlfriend? Ha! He wishes. I think she treats him like a little brother or something." Yu looked back and noticed that Saki didn't seem too happy at the appearance of "Hana-chan."

'She oddly seems annoyed…'

"Nothing much, just hangin' out with some friends here, hehe," Yosuke said as he tried to smooth one over, to end in abysmal failure with the unchanging expression on Saki's face.

"I see you're boosting you're boosting the family business?" Saki questioned, with a slight hint of bitterness in her voice.

"Madam, you wound me!" he replied jokingly. Yu did a mental face-palm.

'I think that wound was supposed to be serious…'

"That aside, are you okay? You don't lo –"

"Hey, look! Is that the transfer student?" Saki and Yosuke walked over to the other pair at the table. Her attention was completely directed towards Yu.

"Hey! You must be the transfer student! Listen, Hana-chan doesn't have a lot of friends, but he's a good guy. If he ever starts to annoy you, just let me know, okay?" Throughout that introduction of sorts, Yosuke felt a little less confident about himself. Yu almost had to feel sorry for him, as if he hadn't been kicked in the balls and thrown in the trashcan already.

"Nah, he's a great guy…" Yu said out of pity, 'but you could learn how to take hints, Yosuke-kun…' Saki just chuckled.

"I know, I know. I was just kidding. Anyways, I'm off my break. See you later!" Saki sang as she turned around to return to her shift. As if in an instant, Yosuke remembered something.

"Saki! Wait, Saki!" Luckily, Saki turned around just as she was about to enter the building.

"Hm?"

"About that thing?" It took a second for Saki to register what that "thing" was.

"Oh yeah! We can make plans about it during my next break." Yosuke's face light up instantly as she disappeared into the building.

"BOOYAAAH!" he yelled loudly, complete with an "I won the lottery" dance motion. Chie chuckled at this scene.

"What's got you all excited?" Chie asked. Yosuke summoned two of what seemed to be tickets to an action movie. Wait. There was a movie theater around here? Yu was now curious to find out. "Oh I see haha!"

Once Yosuke simmered down and took his seat, he decided to switch gears.

"All that awesomeness aside, you know that 'incident' yesterday? You guys think it's murder?" Yu and Chie held black faces.

"Oooh, what if the culprit behind it was still lurking around…? Heehee…"

"Sheesh, you shouldn't joke about stuff like that. So have you guys ever heard of the Midnight Channel?" Both Yosuke and Yu responded with a "Huh?"

"You're supposed to look into a TV that's switched off, alone, exactly at midnight on a rainy night. While you're staring at your own image, another person will appear on the screen…And they say that person's your soul-mate."

"And here I thought you outgrew that useless kiddy crap!" Yosuke detested.

"Fine! If you don't believe it, let's try it out tonight! It's supposed to be raining."

"Really? Now who in their right mind would actually do this?..."

* * *

-_Rainy_ – _11:59 PM-_

_Yu's bedroom_

'I'm doing this… I can't believe I'm actually doing this…' Yu thought as he stared at the small television set in front of him. After the events that passed during the afternoon and dinner, he thought he might as well try it out… to humor Chie, of course.

-_Earlier that evening-_

"_So what went through your mind when you saw it? Could you tell she was dead? Did you see her face?" _a reporter pressed.

"_U-Ummm…" _the girl replied with great reporter was annoying, so annoying that Yu felt sorry for the pixelated girl who was interviewed. Her voice sounded oddly like Saki Konishi, whom he had met earlier in the afternoon. They did leave the Yasogami school uniform visible, though. She sounded frightened and nervous. Yu knew he would be if he was in that situation.

"_Don't you think it's scary that someone was killed on a foggy day?"_

"_Huh…? She was killed?" _the girl sounded a lot more panicked.

"_Oh err… So did you see anyone suspicious?"_

"_No, not really…"_

"_We heard you found it when you left school earl –" _The reporter was cut off and the news returned to the main anchors.

"_We apologize for that. We'll take a break with a word from our sponsors." _The Junes commercial starts playing, with Nanako singing along as usual. She looked back at her father, who was surprisingly home this evening, in expectance.

"Hey, Dad! Can we go to Junes together sometime?" A soft snore can be heard from the couch. It seemed that Dojima had passed out a while ago. Nanko, dejected, let out a long, depressed sigh.

-_Back to the present time-_

It was raining like it was on the first night he was here. This time, thunder and lightning were thrown into the mix to create a more eerie effect. Yu had darkened the room lights five minutes prior. He wanted to see a perfect image of whoever his soul-mate was.

The TV in front him started emitting static. The TV itself started to pixelate and color itself yellow. Soon, the yellow glow lit up the room and a silhouette formed: the silhouette of a girl. Yu was completely fixated by this phenomenon.

'What the f-' Suddenly, a surge of pain rushed through his head, not unlike the one he felt when he first arrived in Inaba. Instinctively, he clutched his head with his right hand, losing balance as the pain grew more intense. As if he needed anymore nonsense, a voice popped into his head.

'_I AM THOU! AND THOU ART I! THOU ART THE ONE WHO OPENS THE DOOR!'_

Yu's left hand had somehow made its way to the TV. Instead of propping support for the teen currently with head trauma, it slipped through the rippling screen and sucked the poor teen in… well as far as it could whilst getting the rest of his body stuck.

Meanwhile, Nanako had woken up to some very loud grunts coming from the upstairs hall. She rushed over to the only room on the second floor, sensing that her cousin was in danger. She threw open the door as hard as she could.

"Hey! I'm coming in!" she yelled as she threw open the door to find a human, presumably her cousin, halfway inside the television.

"Let me pull you out!" Nanako cried. She grabbed hold of his waist from the side and yanked him back into the room. What she didn't count on was the sheer weight difference between the two and subsequently let go, causing Yu to hit the back of his head on the table.

"Hey! Heeey! Are you okay?" Nanako called out a little softer. Yu finally opened his eyes and saw Nanako staring down at him. He waited for a second before a moment of realization dawned on him: 1) The Midnight Channel actually exists 2) There was a creepy voice in his head that sounded like a hollow version of himself 3) The TV tried to eat him alive 4) Nanako saw the whole thing 5) If she told his uncle, he would be on a one-way trip to Germany. Yu looked back at Nanako in sheer terror.

"Nanako-chan, please tell me you didn't see all of that…"

"Uh, why?"

"Let's just say if you father finds out about this, my stay here might be cut very, very short."

"Oh, okay. I won't say anything. I promise."

"Good. Now you should get to bed. It's past midnight."

"Okay." Everything was quiet after Nanako returned to her room downstairs. Yu retreated to his own futon with one thing on his mind:

'What in the fuck just happened?!'

* * *

-_4/14/2011 – Rainy – 3:30 PM-_

"So my soul-mate was a girl…" Yosuke recalled.

"I saw a girl, too! Wait, does that mean we have the same soul-mate?" Chie looked over to Yukiko's desk, "Hey Yukiko, did you ever watch that Midnight Channel thing?"

"Nuh-uh," Yukikio replied. She glanced at the clock and let out a sharp gasp.

"What?" Chie asked out of concern, "You gotta work at the inn today?"

"Sorry… things are getting a little out of hand right now…" Chie only smiled.

"Hey, don't sweat it! We'll catch up later. See yah!"

"Sorry, and good bye." Yukiko quickly scurried out of the classroom, leaving the three to talk amongst themselves.

"By the way, what happened to you?" Yosuke exclaimed, while laughing at the same time. Yu had just finished explaining what had transpired the past evening before Chie changed the subject to that of the subject of the midnight channel. Chie was trying to hold in her laughter as well.

"You mean to tell me that you got stuck in the TV while watching that thing? Weird, all I saw were some weird shadow people."

"I saw that, too," Yu countered.

"Well, with a TV that small, I'd say it's pretty believable!" Yosuke laughed. Chie looked like she just came up with a brilliant idea.

"I got an idea! Let's try and go with a bigger TV! My family was looking for one anyways."

"Hah, yeah! We got some new ones in stock that'll fit chyah!"

"…You guys are assholes."

-_4:00 PM-_

_Electronics Department – Junes Department Store_

"You realize there's this thing called a joke, right?" Yosuke deadpanned. The three found themselves standing in the middle of the electronics department in Junes staring at a large television.

"Whoa this is big. And pricey, too. This would be awesome to watch my kung-fu movies on!" Chie gazed at the TV.

"Yup. Okay, now, let's see if we can hop inside the TV," Yosuke proposed. Both he and Chie stuck their hands out and placed it on the screen, holding it there for a couple seconds.

"Just as I thought, can't go inside a television set. Maybe you really were just dreaming, dude."

"Yeah, I was not dreaming."

"Then you must've ate something bad for dinner. Also, this TV's so thin, you'd probably just end up on the other side… or your head only partly in."

"No."

"Anyways," Chie interrupted, "since we're here. My family's been looking at getting a new TV." Yosuke lit up. He walked Chie over to a fancy TV that was a little bit smaller.

"Well, miss. We have the perfect TV her for you. It's the latest model from Sony, our flagship brand!" Chie looked at the TV and was impressed. However, she noticed the price tag.

"Whooaaa… that's waaay too many zeros! My family's looking for a cheap one!" Chie yelled in surprise.

"Well lead off with that, next time!" Yosuke countered. He took her over to another set of television more modest sized. Meanwhile, Yu thought that maybe the events of last night were a dream. He decided to confirm it. He slowly placed his hand on the screen and pushed forward. Needless to say, he was reliving the events of last night.

"So this model –" Yosuke looked over towards Yu, who had his arm halfway inside the large television. He instantly went bug-eyed/

"What the –" he exclaimed.

"What?" Chie asked, not sure what was going on with Yosuke. She stared in the direction he was and saw the same thing he saw. "WHAAAAA?!"

They both rushed over to the television Yu stuck his hand in and gawked at the sight.

"What the holy hell?!" Yosuke screamed, "How the hell are you doing that?!"

"Is this a new feature?!" Chie asked frantically.

"No way. It's some sort of magic trick. What's the secret, dude?"

"Uh, there is none. Oh, and I probably can go deeper," Yu proposed with the straightest face possible. He then stuck the entire upper half of his upper body into the TV. Naturally, this freaked out the other two even more.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Yosuke yelled in an even more frantic state.

"All I see inside here is just…empty space…" Yu replied muffled.

"Wait, what do you mean inside?!" Yosuke panicked.

"Wh-Wh-Whatdayah mean empty space?!" Chie panicked even more.

"It's pretty spacious in here."

"WHAT THE HELL?" Yosuke yelled out, giving up all sanity that was left in him.

"J-J-JUST WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!" Chie yelled over Yosuke

"Aw man, I'm going to piss my pants!"

"What th- Are you going to piss your pants?"

"I've been holding it in all day! I-I haven't had a chance to go...Aaarrgh! Can't...hold it...anymore!" Yosuke squirms as he runs to the nearest bathroom…only to be found running back. "Shit…customers coming!"

"WHAT?! But we've got a guy half stuck in the TV here! Wh-What're we gonna do?!" They both started running around in a frenzy, not knowing what to do with a teen half stuck in a television set. That was when Yosuke accidentally bumped into Yu and he started to fall inwards. This is when their level of panic peaked.

"WHAT THE…W-WAI- WHOOOOOAAAA!" The three of them fell into the television screen… the screaming drawing attention of some customers…

"…the fuck was that?"

* * *

_In Transit – Inside the TV_

Yu had never taken drugs before. He never wanted to experience getting high off of marijuana or crack. But if he had to reference something to it, this would definitely take the cake for that experience. All he saw in front of him were spinning white squares; he almost had a lapse of vertigo. He had no sense of direction here, not sense of balance. He was in freefall and didn't know when he would hit the bottom. He thought he would certainly die on impact. If gravity falls at 9.8 meters per second per second, he was certainly falling faster than a jetliner on turbo. He was going to die without knowing who that girl in maroon hair from his youth was. Oh, the shame of it all.

"UMPH!" the three of them grunted as they hit the bottom. Instead of doing a face-plant like Yu had imagined, they rolled out onto the ground. Yosuke was the first to roll out, then followed by Chie, then followed by Yu. Yu opened his eyes to look around for the other two…

"Hey! Is everyone okay?"

"Argh! I landed on my wallet…" Yosuke replied from a distance. Yu followed the voice… and found them in a rather compromising position…

"I'll say, if you two love each other so much, why hide it from me?" Yu greeted as he walked over to the other two. He found Yosuke on his back pinned down by Chie, who was sprawled out on top of him. Yosuke squirmed in pain. While Chie was trying as best as she could to roll off of him.

"Narukami-kun… please don't say anything else about this… if you want to live," Yosuke wheezed. Yu just laughed it off and helped Chie off of the clumsy teen.

Once the dust settled and everybody was able to sit up, they all looked at each other, and looked around them. This was clearly not Junes.

"Man," Chie started, "where the hell are we? Some place in Junes?"

"I FOR FUCKING SURE know that this madhouse doesn't exist inside Junes! I mean, we fell through a TV! ...Actually, uh...what the hell IS going on here?!"

"So, uh, we're dead right?"

"Oh please, Chie! Don't joke around right now!"

"…are you guys really okay?" Yu wondered, questioning the sanity levels of the two which are currently at "none."

"…I think my ass is cracked…" Yosuke responded, nursing his behind all the while.

"Of course it is!" Chie added on, not making Yosuke feel any better about it. Yosuke finally took a good look at his surroundings.

"WHOA!"

"Wh-What now!? Did you wet your pants?!" Chie panicked. It was seriously like a scared mother doting on her child.

"No, stupid! Look around!" Even Chie began to fully observe her surroundings. They were on some kind of platform, or stage. Large lattice bracings and supports sprang up from the sides. At the top, spotlights and their wiring could be seen shining down below on the group. The light, though, was dispersed by the thick fog that surrounded them. It was very hard to see past the stage.

"Is this… a studio?" Chie wondered, "All this fog...Or is it smoke? There's no place like this in Inaba, is there...?"

"Hells the fuck no there isn't!" Yosuke shouted, "But man, this place is huge…"

"What're we gonna do?" They both looked to the only person who hadn't talked much.

"Let's go home."

"G-Good plan," Chie agreed, "Look. We need to get home and…!" She paused as she realized something missing.

"H-Huh?! Wait a minute...Which way did we come in from? I don't see a way in...or out!" Yosuke started to panic once more at this realization.

"What? That can't be right! H-How could that be!"

"I don't know! Don't ask me! I can't take this anymore! I wanna go home!" At that moment, strange squeaking sounds could be heard in the distance. The three looked in the direction it was coming from and saw a dark, giant figure approaching them.

"Uh g-g-guys," Chie called nervously, "w-w-w-what is that?" She pointed to the approaching figure. Per instinct, Yosuke yelled, Chie screamed, and the three of them bolted in one direction, hoping they'd end up somewhere safe.

They were running endlessly on a bridge, a catwalk of some sort. The somehow reached the end of the catwalk and took a break there. The three of them where panting for air.

"Whew… I think we lost that freak," Chie sigh in relief. Yu, however, looked further and saw a building. And at the entrance of that building sat another figure. This figure took notice of the group and walked into the building. Yosuke noticed that Yu started walking towards the building, who was feeling edgy at the presence of the figure.

"Wait, dude! Where are you going?" Yosuke yelled.

"Something tells me to hide in the building."

"Okay… we're gonna trust you on this one. C'mon, Chie." The three rushed into the building.

Inside the building, they were led to a single door that was unlocked. They stepped inside and spread out in the room. Yosuke was the first the step in.

"Hey, is it me or is the fog lighter in here." With that, Yu good a good look around the room and noticed several things wrong: the walls splattered with red and yellow paint, posters of a person with the face cut out, a chair in the center of the room, and a noose hanging above it.

"W-Where the hell are we?!" Yu said as his eyes widened at the grotesqueness of the room. This was the first time anyone has ever seen Yu in a panicked state. Using this as a cue, Yosuke was immediately fixated on the noose and chair. Chie took note of the posters. It was eerily silent until…

"WAAAAH!" Yosuke suddenly screamed.

"W-W-What?!" Chie screamed in return.

"I can't hold it any longer! My bladder's gonna explode!" Yosuke danced around while holding his crotch. He retreated to a corner and unzipped his pants. Chie was beyond mortified at this point.

"W-W-W-Wait! What are you doing? You can't do that here? It's somebody's room. Narukami-kun, stop him!" Yu looked perplexed.

"Why would I do that? Let a man do his business."

"THANK YOU, Narukami-kun. Now, I can't go if everyone's staring at me!"

"Why not?!"

"I GET STAGEFRIGHT DAMN IT!"

"Alright, alright; I'll go outside, then." Chie made her way outside… to find the same figure they were running from. Only this time, she can clearly see it. Of course, Chie yells really loudly. Yosuke zips up his pants and runs out with Yu to find a… bear?

This bear, or the thing they were running from earlier, was of the blue and red variety. It had a blue and beige head with a red body. A zipper separated the two parts. The bear had large, oval eyes and a large mouth. There was a patch of blue fur(?) that stuck up at the grown of its head. The red body was in that of a suit with red stubs for arms and legs. It looked like it came from a circus.

"What in the world…" Yosuke wondered, "What the hell are you?"

"That's what I wanted to ask you guys!" the bear questioned back, angrily. After all, they were in its territory. But more importantly…

"I-I-It can talk?!" Chie exclaimed in surprise.

"Of course!" the bear retorted, "I AM a bear! Geez, I've lived here since _bear_-ever!"

'Wait…did that bear just make a bear pun?' Yu mentally face-palmed. This was really getting out of hand.

"Dude, what is up with this guy?! It's beyond creepy" Yosuke said, not less bewildered than before. The bear suddenly recoiled and started flailing about.

"K-K-Keep it down! Go on and get out of here! Run along and go back to your den!" Suddenly, strange noises could be heard from far away. The bear was really in a frantic flail now. It pulled out a black pair of glasses and shoved them into Yu's hands.

"Here, here! Use this and just go! The shadows… the shadows will…" the bear trailed off. Even Chie was confused.

"Shadows? What do you mean by –" The strange sounds got closer. Now they sound like audible moans. Yu decided to throw the glasses on, to humor the bear.

"You actually put those things on?" Yosuke questioned his actions concerning the bear's glasses. Speaking of the bear, it went into full insanity mode as the moans got louder.

"Oh no, no, no, nooo…" Yu looked down the hallway, noting that the fog had cleared up. He also noticed that there were forms spawning from every crevice and corner of the hallway.

"Something's there!" The bear completely lost it.

"The shadows! THEY'RE HERE!" and the bear ran for it.

"Hey! Wait up!" Yosuke called after the running bear, only for the bear to have disappeared. These forms have now taken shape to what appears to be floating mouths with a purple stripe design. They moved towards the group. With one appearing from the door of the room they were just in. Naturally, the group was in trouble.

"Shit! I'm outta here!" Yosuke yelled, bolting for the stairs.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Chie screamed.

"Every man for himself!" Yu boldly declared. They eventually made it to the building's courtyard and playground where they were surrounded by these floating creatures. They were frozen, unable to move. One creature floated over and licked Chie, instantly knocking her out.

"Holy shit! It just slurped Chie!"

"Damn it!"

"Dude, we're done for!"

"I can't move my legs!" Yu braced himself for the inevitable. He was going through his last thoughts as a live human being. 'I really am going to die here. I'll never get to graduate high school. I'll never get to get my dream job. I'll never get to meet the one girl I wanted to meet for the longest time. Life is pitiful, huh. What a great way to go out…' Time suddenly froze around him. That voice from the previous night appeared again.

'_I AM THOU. THOU ART I…' _The creatures stopped their advance.

"Hey! They stopped!" Yosuke sighed a breath of relief. A glow from his right side grabbed his attention, however, as a blue card appeared out of thin air above Yu. It had a mask on the back, and a guy with a pointy hat and a shoulder sack in front. Yu held his hand out, unsure of what to do at this point.

"Narukami-kun…what's that?" Yu promptly ignored Yosuke for the time being. The card was now spinning just above Yu's palm.

'_THOU HAS OPEN THINE EYES. THE TIME…(multiple images flashed by his eyes) IS NOW!' _Yu stopped for a moment and gasped for air. At that moment, a portal opened up below him.

"Per…" the portal became brighter and light up around him.

"So…" Energy could be seen gathering around Yu as he leaned on the last syllable.

"NA!" His eyes narrowed as he reached up and crushed the card. Out from behind him appeared a large, humanoid figure with a uniquely designed helmet, a badass long-coat, yellow eyes, blades for shoes, and a big, fat, sword.

'_I AM IZANAGI, CREATOR OF THE WORLD! BOW DOWN TO ME, YOU IMBECILES!'_ The figure behind Yu, now known as Izanagi, began its tirade on the floating tongues of death. One stab after another, Izanagi took out the shadows. Several managed to grab ahold of his helmet, but not for long. He shook them off and stabbed them twice as hard. Now, Yu wanted to finish the bunch, once and for all.

'_Master, call the spell!'_

'Wait, what spell?' As if Izanagi knew what Yu was asking, Yu suddenly received a list of commands to use in his head. 'I guess we'll find out of this works.'

"Zio!" Yu yelled as he held his hand out in front of him. Lightning and electricity were summoned form the red skies above and crashed down onto the remaining creatures, effectively disintegrating them into a black mush. It was over. They were able escape with no harm done. Yu, from the rush of excitement and power, unbuttoned his school jacket. Yosuke was completely taken aback by what he just saw.

"You…are awesome…"

"Per…sona," Yu gasped in between breaths, "This power…it belongs to me…"

"Anyways, we gotta wake up Chie and get out of here." Yu come out of his power-induced stupor and noticed that Chie was still on the ground unconscious. The both ran over to her.

"Chie!" Yosuke called out, "Chie… c'mon wake up, Chie!" The sleeping beauty woke up to Yosuke and Yu hovering over her.

"Ugggh…are we dead?" Chie groaned as she sat up

"No. They're long gone!" Yosuke said enthusiastically. Chie looked at everyone bewildered.

"Wh-What?"

"He slaughtered them!" he gestured towards Yu, "Dude…what did you call that thing again? Persona?" Yu tried to remember the battle, but couldn't recall what had transpired.

"I don't really remember…"

"Huh…anyways, let's get out of here before more of those things come back."

They walked back the way they came, after a little help from the angle they saw the building's entrance in. Eventually, they got back to the entrance where they found the bear walking around.

"There you are!" Chie yelled out to the bear. They ran up to it and pulled it to the center of the stage. "We finally found you. Now how do we get out of here?"

"You need an exit?" the bear asked, just to be sure.

"Look, you look like you know the ins and outs of this place pretty well." Yosuke pressured the bear.

"That's not important right now!" the bear brushed off the subject at hand, "What did you with the shadows?"

"You mean those monsters?" Chie asked for assurance.

"Yeah, yeah!"

"What are they?" Yosuke added on.

"Did you make those shadow things?" Yu capped it off. This made the bear turn very angry, very quickly.

"ARRRGH! I've had it up to hear with people bargaining in and riling up the shadows!" It slammed its feet down and a stack of old televisions appeared out of thin air. This certainly caught the three by surprise.

"Whoa," Yosuke and Chie sang in unison.

"TVs?" Yu asked puzzled. The bear was rather impatient, however.

"Now go one and scram! As you can see, I'm a busy bear." It began shoving the three towards the television set, with a struggle ensuing between the four. Suddenly, they were traveling through the vortex of rectangle and landed on a hard surface. They had landed back on the Junes electronics floor.

"OOF!"

"Geeez, that hurt…" Chie moaned.

"Goddamn, I really hate that bear…" Yosuke groaned, completely missing that Chie was on top on him…again.

"We made it back," Yu announced. Yosuke and Chie quickly shouted in rejoice and hugged each other, with Chie realizing that she was in fact hugging Yosuke and decided to knee him in the crotch.

"OW! Goddammit…"

"Don't take advantage of the situation, you big perv!" Yu noticed something at the far corner of the wall: a poster just like the one they saw inside the creepy room. Chie walked over to him and looked at the same poster.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" Chie called to Yu, who was still fixated on the poster. "Oh, that's Misuzu Hiiragi. Isn't she the one whose husband had an affair with that reporter lady who died the other day?"

"It could be related to it…" Yu mused.

"Yaaargh, stop! No more! I don't think my heart can take it."

"Yeah, I'm feeling kinda woozy. I'm heading home," Chie submitted to exhaustion. Yu thought it would be best to do the same, so they all exited Junes and went their separate ways.

-_Rainy - 7:30 PM-_

When Yu opened the front door, he was expecting some kind of trouble; he was an hour and a half late after all. Of course, Dojima and Nanako were waiting at the table for him. He felt sluggish and was slow to move towards the table in the living room. Once he sat down, he grabbed a bento and started munching on it, very slowly. Dojima looked like he wanted to talk to Yu about something, though.

"Hey. Welcome Home. Sorry to bother you about this, but, u-um, I doubt you know, but have you heard of a student named Saki Konishi?" Yu had indeed heard of her, and met her on top of that.

"Well, she wasn't at school today…" 'Based on what I heard floating around the school today…'

"Oh. I see...To be honest...we got a call from her family. She's disappeared. We've got people looking for her, but she hasn't been found yet..."

"Ah."

"…Work just keeps piling up..." Dojima sighed to himself. Yu found himself nodding on an off at the table, humorously missing his mouth at times. Dojima took note of this and took his chopstick from his hand.

"Hey… you alright there? I guess you're still adjusting to the environment here. Why don't you go ahead and take a rest." Yu did exactly what he said and marched himself slowly up the stairs and into his room, where he didn't even bother pulling out the futon, stripped down to his boxers, and collapsed on the couch passing out in an instant…

* * *

-_?-_

A girl trudged along a lonely pathway surrounded by fog. She didn't know where she was going, or how she ended up there. All she knew was to keep walking forward. The area was dimly lit, and she couldn't see in front of her. She was a lost lamb, nowhere to run to, nowhere to return to.

The roar of an engine started closing in from behind her. She heeded no attention to it, only turning her head when the limousine pulled up next to her. The door opened and an invitational hand was extended from the vehicle. She didn't know what to do but take the hand and pull her in. She shut the door behind her and was offered a seat next to the old man that was present. She sat down, and directed her attention to the old man.

"Now, then. It seems we have a lost soul in the sea of consciousness," the old man mused, "what is your name, dear?" The girl looked perplexed. She concentrated hard to remember something, but came up with nothing.

"… I don't remember…" she replied sadly.

"Gooood," the old man said, "Welcome to the Velvet Room… Marie…"

* * *

**A/N: **I hope you all are enjoying this novelization so far. I'm certainly excited to write it. I'll be combining Golden, the two anime for P4, and aspects that are unique to this fanfiction series. As you can all tell, this will be the real Part 1 of the P4X series. I haven't decided if I'll do a P3 fic or not, but that will be decided after I finish this one. As always, read, love, and review! :D


	3. In His Darkest Secrets

**A/N:** Hey, everyone! I'm back with a new chapter. Sorry with the update speed as I have a lot going on in life; things just keep piling up by the minute. But enough excuses, you all probably know what's going to happen in this chapter.

Shout-outs to Anime/Manga/Light Novel/Video Games in Chapter 1 and 2: Dragon Ball [Z] (Ch 1) and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Ch 1)

Legend:

_-Date – Weather – Time-_

_Location_

"Speech"

'Thought'

_"Speech from the other line of the phone or electronics"_

_'Persona speech'_

_**"Shadow Speech"**_

* * *

**Chapter 3 – In His Darkest Secrets**

_-4/15/2011 – Foggy – 7:00 AM-_

It was sunrise… only the sun's morning rays never reached the ground. The thick fog that engulfed the small town masked the evil what lied within. It was too early to be out in the morning, with the occasional jogger running up and down the flood plain and through the neighborhood. The sounds of jay birds and finches could barely be heard, no matter how close one got to the trees. It was eerily silent throughout, not so much one living soul making so much as a peep.

This jogger continued breathlessly along her path towards the plain's exit and turned east towards the shopping district. She ran past the closed shops as they whizzed by in the sea of murkiness. Her long brown hair fluttered in the mist as her fists and legs pumped their way forward. Her selection of J-Rock and J-Pop isolated herself from the eeriness of the atmosphere. She didn't notice the panicked state of the alcohol shop she passed by as she turned the corner onto the main road.

She came to a stopping point in a neighborhood a little while later, resting herself on a telephone poll. Exhausted, she threw her head back, glancing up at the dreary morning sky hoping to get some more oxygen flowing into her system. Immediately, she noticed something hanging from the telephone pole.

Stepping away from the telephone poll, she looked up at the wires and noticed a peculiar figure, one that was definitely not supposed to be hanging there. She narrowed her eyes to a squint to see the details… and popped them right back open as she recognized the figure: a high school girl in her school uniform hanging upside down from the top. A scream could be heard for miles…

* * *

_-Rainy – 8:15 AM-_

_Yasogami High School Entrance_

It was raining, just like evening before, the evening that Yu desperately wanted to forget. He walked with his umbrella with his normally stoic face when two girls came up from behind.

"Hey!" a cheery voice called out, surely belonging to Chie, "Mornin'!"

"Good morning," a calmer, sweeter voice followed, surely belonging to Yukiko.

"…morning…" Yu replied in a dead manner. Chie and Yukiko looked at Yu for a moment.

"…you okay?" Chie asked in worry.

"…I didn't have a good night's sleep," Yu explained… in a dead manner.

"Oh. I guess – "

"Hey Yuki~," a fourth voice joined in ahead of them. They all drew attention to a student standing to the left of the gate. He was without an umbrella and his uniform was beyond soaked. Speaking of said uniform, it was unfamiliar to the three.

"Uh, hi?" Yukiko asked confused. Several students walking by started whispering to each other.

"Dude, who is that guy?"

"Does he go to our school?"

"Doesn't he know that Amagi's off limits?"

"He's gonna fail so hard at the Amagi Challenge…"

"I've been waiting all morning, Yuki~" the boy crooned. This was getting way beyond creepy, and he only said two sentences. Those dead fisheyes pierced into the souls of the three, sending them into instant darkness and fear. Yukiko was forever lost in it, Yu was wondering what to do in this situation, and Chie was fed up with his behavior.

"Let's go hang out, Yuki~"

"Wh-Wh-What?" Yukiko panicked.

"Hey! Why don't you just leave her alone, you creep!" Chie yelled. The boy ignored her and narrowed his eyes towards Yukiko. She cowered in fear.

"Well? Are you coming, or not?!" the boy became more aggressive with his approach. Yukiko wanted to desperately hide in her sweater, burning all memory of this interaction away.

"N-No, I'm not going!" she finally mustered, a bit seemingly small to the aggressively forward student in front of her. Said student finally burst his bubble.

"FUCK YOU! Stupid bitch." The boy left the premise to wallow away in self-hatred and pain. Yukiko was left dazed and confused. Chie was left wondering about said boy.

"Dude, what was up with that guy? He really bugs."

"W-What did he want from me?" Yukiko finally asked.

'Did she really not know?' Yu wondered.

"He wanted a date, of course," Chie explained.

'That would've been a very unsafe date. Chie-san and I might have to tag along if she ever did say yes to this guy, which thankfully she didn't… and probably won't…'

"He did?"

"Yeah. And it was totally creepy how he kept calling you Yuki and stuff…"

"He did that?"

"A-Anyways, let's go inside before the bell rings." With that, the three made their way inside into their classroom where they found Yosuke waiting for them. The class seemed excited about a particular topic, namely the Midnight Channel. Great, just the thing Yu wanted to forget.

"Dude… did you see the Midnight Channel yesterday?"

"Yeah! Dude, My soul-mate's a chick. And she was wearing our school uniform!"

"Dude, I can't wait to find out who she is."

"Same here!"

Yosuke approached the three whilst looking at Yukiko.

"So, I heard you turned down another lovelorn fool. Got turned down the same way last year."

"Huh?" Yukiko looked up confused, "I did?"

"Oh? So that means you want to go out with me?"

"I'd rather not," Yukiko bluntly replied with the straightest face possible.

"…'cuz I suck," Yosuke admitted defeat, "Well, it doesn't matter anyways 'cuz I got this thing goin'!"

"Ohhh… yeah, you got that thing with Saki-senpai!" Chie remembered.

"But, I don't know; she hasn't texted back in a couple days. I wonder what's up." Yosuke hammered away at the keypad on this phone, sending yet another text to the third year. It had gotten to the point in their relationship where they did text each other, with Saki responding almost right away. It was a day in, day out thing between the two, keeping each other's spirits up at work and at home. Yosuke waited for a while for the text to come back, only failing again. Sirens blared in the distance, drawing the attention all students.

"Another accident?" Yu pondered, gazing out the rainy window.

"_Attention students," _ the intercom rudely interrupted Yosuke's train of thought. The entire class fell into silence as they glanced at the speaker at the front of the classroom. They all had noticed that King Moron had not made his oh so gracious appearance. _"There has been a call for an emergency assembly. Please make your way to the auditorium in an orderly manner. Attention students…" _

"I wonder what happened…" one student whispered.

"Must be serious if none of the teachers showed up."

"Not another assembly…"

"I LOVE BISCUITS!"

"SHUT HELL UP, KOTAROU!"

The mass exodus of students exited the classrooms and filled the tiny hallway. This made Tokyo Station look beyond deserted at rush hour. Chatter spread immensely throughout the crowd, ranging from the typical gossip, to curiosity of the event, to a girl suddenly running in the other direction to the school's entrance. Said girl's best friend noticed her change in direction.

"Yukiko! Where're you going?!" Chie yelled. The girl in red looked back while running, gripping on to her phone for dear life.

"My mother needs a lot of help at the inn right now. I'll be back at noon!"

_Yasogami High School Gym_

'I feel like goddamn cattle in a cage…' Yu grumbled to himself. He _hated_ tight spaces to the point where one could call him claustrophobic, not that he actively showed it. He took a glance around the room and noticed one person to be missing, namely the girl in a red sweater.

"Hey Chie-san," Yu whispered the girl standing next to him, "where did Yukiko-san go?"

"Oh, she had to help out at the inn. I guess they're pretty crazy this time of year, haha!" Yu was understandably confused. Luckily, Chie read his face and decided to save him the trouble of thinking too hard.

"If you're wondering, Yukiko's family runs a world-class inn just west of town higher up Mt. Yasogami. This town's famous for it."

"Ah, I see."

"But with all of the stuff that's been happening, who knew it would get this busy."

"Yeah, I understand that…"

"You _really_ don't care about anything, don't you…" Chie deadpanned. Yu had no response to that. He actually didn't care, unless it somehow pertained to him. Yu turned to Yosuke, who placed himself on his other side, still fiddling with his phone waiting for a text that never came back.

"C'mon…why won't you answer alreadyyyy?" Little did he know, his question was about to be answered.

"Alright, listen up!" King Moron blasted over the excited chatter of the bumbling student body, "the Principal here has an important announcement. Make so much a _peep_ and you'll be on my rotten little shit list!" All eyes turned to the stage where they saw several teachers looking grim, especially one teacher who was about ready to burst into tears. The room suddenly quieted to near silence as they felt the atmosphere grow rather heavy and bleak. The Principal walked up to the podium and took a deep breath. This rattled breath, along with his very traditional attire and long, balding, white hair revealed his age and wisdom. He hesitated for a bit, but decided to press on, hoping it was the best decision he could make.

"My fellow students," he began in a rather grave tone, "it is with great sadness that I announce the passing of one of our own." Gasps filled the crowd as they all looked in every direction, hoping to find the one missing person. Yosuke was still fumbling about his phone, hoping that what he was hearing was not pertaining to him…

"Saki Konishi of Class 3-B was found deceased this morning. The coroner's office estimated her time of death at approximately 1:00 AM. I have spoken with the staff and confirmed that bullying was not involved. Please do your best to corporate with the police as they will be arriving later on this morning. Our counselors will be available to you later on today after we have assessed the situation. Thank you and that is all. To those who may be affected by this tragedy, you all have my and the staff's condolences." He backed away from the stage and quickly made his exit. For the next 5 seconds, no one said a word. No one laughed, no one cried, no one yelled; it was dead silent. It wasn't until one headphone wearing boy dropped his phone, showing an endless, one-sided conversation to the person of interest. He bent down to pick up his phone, his body shaking from the shock. He was still wide-eyed from the news, and had no courage to speak.

It wasn't until one girl decided her emotional dam was just about finished. She turned to her friend and cried loudly into her chest, tears streaming down like a raging river on a rainy day. At this moment, the entire room erupted, ranging from anger, to tears, to plain chaos as the teachers tried to quell the students. Yosuke was trying to fight back the onset of tears, made worse by the people around him actually crying. Yu and Chie looked back at the poor boy, and looked on as he ran out.

"Yosuke…" they both murmured.

* * *

-_Rainy – 12:30PM-_

_Club Room Connector_

To him, the one they called Saki Konishi was more than just a senior; she was a co-worker, and more importantly, a friend that he trusted and cared for the most. To see that notion ripped clean from him in one fellow swoop broke whatever spirit he had left since moving here. He stood there, leaning against the piling that held the catwalk over his head, for the rest of the morning trying to clear his head of the sea of depression he currently was drowning in.

His thoughts began to swim. He remembered the previous night watching the Midnight Channel, seeing a girl that looked very similar to Saki, no, exactly like her! He knew based on the wonderful adventure they had yesterday that whoever ended up in there would most likely die. He saw it firsthand that night.

-_Flashback to the Previous Night – Rainy – 12:00AM- _

_Yosuke's Room_

"Yawn… man that world took a lot out of me. I'm ready to go to bed. I hope that Midnight Channel thing doesn't come on and…" The large TV in his room flickered to life, a strange, glowing yellow hue. On screen, a very clear image appeared of a girl with long, brown hair was on her knees petrified at the monstrous shadow-figure she was facing. A pack of shadows attacked her, phasing in and out of her body, drinking every last bit of soul and will power she had left. The TV flickered off after a minute. To say Yosuke was shocked was an understatement.

"…what in the hell was that?" was all he could croak as he fell asleep on his bed, hoping it was all a bad dream.

-_End Flashback- _

He would still continue to think it was all a bad dream, but after seeing the TV World firsthand and what it could do to a person, there was no reason to deny it. It so happened that the two people he was looking for came to his side. The first person to speak was, unsurprisingly, Chie.

"Hey… you okay?" Yosuke responded with a depressed grunt.

"I'm gonna take that as a noooo…"

"Look," Yosuke suddenly spoke up, startling both Yu and Chie, "to tell you the truth, I watched the Midnight Channel yesterday, and saw who I think was Saki being killed." Both of them gasped at the notion.

"You can't be serious!" Chie exclaimed.

"Does it look like I'm fucking crazy?!" Yosuke blew up, unable to hold back his anger any longer. Chie reeled back, with Yu catching her. "Look, we made our way into the TV World, so what if Saki-senpai and Ms. Yamano found a way in, too?!"

"So you're saying people die when shown on that thing?!" Chie exclaimed yet again. Yosuke promptly ignored her and continued his abhorrent tirade.

"We need to find out who's doing all this. People who get thrown there die when shown on TV. That's the assumption I'm going to make based on what I've seen last night and what I've heard today. I mean, they said that Saki-senpai's body was found the same way as Ms. Yamano. I can't stand by to let people end up like them!"

"Wait… you're thinking about going inside? AFTER ALL THAT YOU'VE SAID?!"

"Yeah. I can't sit by and let things end like this. I will not have anyone else come in harm's way, especially you." Chie felt what was like a blush flare up for a quick second, but quickly remembered that this was Yosuke and in no universe would he look to another girl other than Saki Konishi.

'Thanks for your kind thoughts, Yosuke-san…' Yu dryly thought at the exclusion of his name. 'Of course, he's not thinking remotely straight at this point, so I'll let this side…'

"Anyways, I need you both at Junes later today."

"Yosuke… you wouldn't…" Chie trailed off.

* * *

-_Rainy – 3:40PM-_

_The Streets of Inaba_

Two students found themselves running in the rain towards the local Junes where they were going to intercept the mourning boy in headphones. They figured he left school early due to the emotional stress he was experiencing at the time and couldn't return to class at that state.

"I have a feeling this is not going to end well…" Yu mused while he ran, kicking water up at the inevitably slower Chie, who was drinking said water.

"Damn it, Narukami! Could you slow down?! I'm literally drinking the water you kick up!"

"Then keep up! At this rate, Yosuke-san is going on a suicide mission in the TV World!" Chie didn't even have to respond to understand the gravity of the situation. Here was an emotionally unstable Yosuke Hanamura, who may or may not choose to end his life on a suicide mission into the TV World. She understood that Saki was the only thing he had to live for in this town, and to see her torn away from him in a blink of an eye frightened her. They may have fought and bickered in the past 6 months they had known each other, but that in truth brought them closer together (although she did want to get him back for breaking her limited edition DVD). She had begun to care for him slightly as a person as a result, even though he was annoying and an ass most of the time. She couldn't let that go.

The torrent of rain picked up as they sprinted across the flood plains…

* * *

-_Rainy –_ _4:00PM-_

_Electronics Department, Junes, Inc._

What Yu and Chie had expected was for no one to be there; instead, they found their target waiting for them with his arms folded. He was armed with rope, a pair of monkey wrenches, and a golf club. He still wore the stern, depressed face he held this morning when the principal dropped the bomb. He glared at the TV, and then turned his head towards the two.

"Great. You guys came. Let' go an-"

"We came to stop you, idiot!" Chie roared.

"I'm being serious here. What, are you going to tell me to leave it to the police? They haven't even found a lead on the Yamano case before this shit happened. And what pisses me off the most, was that Saki-senpai was just a bystander of it all and had to be offed in the most gruesome way possible. How can I _not_ do this?!"

"Yosuke, I understand, but this is just way too dangerous!"

"I know it's dangerous, and I might end up not coming back, but I just can't leave this alone! Not like this… "

"So you're gonna waltz in there and hope that everything'll be okay? You realize that we had to find a giant, stupid _teddy bear_ for a way out."

"I know... but we were able to come back once, right? If we go in from the same location, maybe we'll meet that him again."

"'Maybe' isn't good enough!"

"Then what do you expect me to do? Leave it to the useless police force and hope that something comes of it 20 years later as the case goes cold?"

"~Ahem~" Yu cleared his throat, grabbing the two's attention, "I understand your predicament, Yosuke-san, and I do feel bad, but please reconsider your options before jumping head-first deep into something you can't get out of."

"Not you, too… can you leave it like this?" Yosuke replied in a semi-audible moan whilst looking up at the silver-haired teen. There were many possible outcomes of this: go into the TV world and die fighting an unknown monster; go into the TV world, find something of value fight the monster for it, not find a way out, and die; go into the TV World, find the bear, find something of value, fight monsters, and make it back with Yosuke-san still sulking. Yu had no choice in the matter since all lead to a relatively bad end. He let out a gruff sigh.

"Yosuke-san… I know you're probably at the point beyond convincing, so I'm going along with you."

"Wait, really?!" Yosuke and Chie yelped.

"I'm worried about Chie-san."

"…I don't get it…" Chie replied puzzled.

"There's no telling what will happen over there, so I'd rather you stay safe over here while I let Yosuke-san vent his anger and I'll protect him from getting himself killed."

"We also need someone to pull us out if we're in trouble. Here, Chie," Yosuke handed over the rope while handing one end of the rope to Yu, who tied it around his waist, "hold onto this and don't let go. When we tug, that's the signal to pull us out. Got it?"

"C-C-C'mon guys! This is crazy!"

"I already have a plan. You never go into something without a plan. Here, Narukami-san." He handed Yu a golf club (probably one of the store's display models) and a handful of medicine (which he probably paid for earlier). "I'd figure we wouldn't want to go in empty handed, so I got these for you."

'Yosuke-san was surprisingly prepared considering his earlier outburst…'

"Alright, let's go. There's no use wasting time in here. Chie, don't let go of the rope." Yu and Yosuke stepped forward with the rope tied to their waist and phased through the large television, the ripples subsiding moments later. Chie still felt very hesitant about the idea.

"Hey… w-wait a sec-" She tugged on the rope for a bit and pulled hard to trace them back out, only to feel it snap at both ends. Realizing they had no way out, she sunk to the floor, unable to think of what to do next.

"Wha-…damn it! I TOLD YOU! This was a bad idea…" Chie sunk even lower, dropping the broken rope to the floor, and mourned the loss of her good friends.

* * *

_TV World Landing Area_

~SLAM~

"OWWW, GODDAMN IT!" Yosuke yelled as he picked himself up, "I'll never be used to breaking my ass."

"You know, for a guy who lost the love of his life, you seem oddly calm…"

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that." They both looked around the area in which they landed. It was the same spot they landed the previous day.

"So I was right… This _is_ the same area we landed in yesterday! Looks like the TVs we enter from are connected from place to place."

"Interestingly enough, I agree with you," Yu replied nonchalantly while putting on his glasses. He felt he needed to if he wanted to get through the fog.

"Y-You guys!" a high-pitched voice screamed out from behind them, "Why'd you come back?!" It was the bear from before. So far, Yosuke was right. The bear, however, looked less than pleased to see the two.

"Ooooh, I get it! You guys are the one behind this!" Yosuke heeded no attention to the bear's accusations.

"Oh, hey! It's the bear from yesterday!" He mentally ran through the list of conversation points he over looked in the last 30 seconds…

"Wait. What did you say?!"

"Bodies have been appearing in this world lately, and you guys are able to enter from the outside on your own, so clearly you guys are the ones dumping the bodies in here! COME CLEAN ALREADY!" Yu silently shook his head in disproval.

"Uh, no." Yu coldly responded. Yosuke wasn't having any of it.

"What're you talking about, 'throwing people in'?! If someone was thrown in here and they couldn't get out, they might die! Who would do such a—" It was at this point where Yosuke had an epiphany, something that doesn't happen to often for him. In fact, this might be the first time he had ever felt this experience.

"SHUT THE HELL UP, NARRATOR! But wait a sec… all this talk about throwing people in here… Did someone throw Saki-senpai and Ms. Yamano in here?!" He was back to his angst-driven rage when they met in Junes. Speaking of Junes, Yu was wondering what Chie was doing right now…

"What do you think?" Yosuke directed the question towards Yu. Of course, Yu was busy thinking about the mental state of the headphone-wearing boy at the moment…

"…Come again?"

"I swear I'm gonna worry about your attention span…"

'Oh, really…'

"Anyways, someone's been throwing people in here. You think that's it, dude?" Yu thought about it for a moment, and came up with the same conclusion.

'Based on what we saw yesterday, the shadows can outright kill people. People can't enter inside the TV by themselves, like when Yosuke was waiting around for us to show up. When people die here, they end up in a weird position in the real world…' "It's safe to say that I also think what you're thinking. Someone is throwing people in here."

"Yeah...I agree. Let's assume he's telling the truth..."

'So you're agreeing to me agreeing with you?'

"Could it be that someone's throwing people in here, intending to kill them? If that's the case…"

"Well that's a possibility. It could also be an accident, although I wouldn't count on the same accident happening twice." The bear was not happy being ignored.

"What're you guys mumbling about? Why'd you come here, anyways?! It's a one-way door! You can't get out once you're in! Remember? How I had to let you guys out?" Yosuke, switching to his confident state, had his answer already lined up.

"Yeah, whatever; we don't need your help this time. We have this lifeline any—" Of course, Yosuke tugged on the rope and found that the other end was disconnected from Yu's. And as quick as he gave his answer, his face paled a deathly white. Yu shook his head again out of disappointment. "Whaaaat?!"

"How did I know this was going to happen…"

"Listen, bear! Y-You better let us out of here once we're done investigating!" Yosuke demanded. Yet, the bear would not deter himself from giving the headphone wearing asshat the upper hand.

"Grrrrr! I'm the one who wants to investigate! I've lived here for a long time. But it's never been noisy like this till now. Do you have proof?! Prove to me you're not throwing people in here!" Both Yu and Yosuke's sweat dropped from their foreheads. They were getting to the point of exasperation.

"Uh, no." Yu replied yet again.

"See! So it IS you guys!"

"For the last time, it's not us, so we've got nothing to prove to you!" Yosuke yelled at the poor bear, "Hey, you better answer our questions. This isn't like last time, when we came here by accident. We're dead serious! Listen up, 'cause people have died in our world… Every time this fog appears, a dead body shows up with it. It has to be related to this place somehow! If you know something, tell us!" This almost sounded like he was pleading. Yosuke switched to his angst-ridden self again.

'I swear he has the biggest mood-swings of any teenage boy I know.' Suddenly, the bear's mood switched, this time to one of curiosity.

"A dead body? Whenever the fog appears…? I know that if it's foggy on your side, the fog lifts here. It's really dangerous when the fog lifts. That's when the Shadows get violent. Aaaah… I get it…"

"Huh? If you get it, then explain it to us, dammit! If it's foggy on our side, it isn't in here…? Shadows get violent…?"

'What should have been clear isn't making sense to me either…'

"That's why I said to hurry back! It's dangerous when that happens! Okay, no more questions. I know you guys did it! You better stop right now!"

'This bear just does _not _get it.'

"I've told you and told you, we're not the ones doing it! I've about had it with you… Why the hell won't you listen to what we're saying?!" The bear retreated at the sight of Yosuke's boiling rage. It was almost too much for him to handle.

"I-I'm just saying… you might be the culprits. I'm just making sure…"

"How much insurance does the bear need? Man, this bear's driving me nuts… What is this place, anyways? It looks like a TV studio. Is something being filmed here?" Yosuke had yet another epiphany…

"H-Hey, don't tell me… Is that weird show being filmed here?!" This time the bear was confused.

"Weird show? Filmed? What does that mean?"

'So you really do only live in this world.' Yosuke understood this time that the bear was truly not of the human world. He seemed to have simmered down a bit.

"Uh… I'm asking if someone's been filming the people that get thrown in here?"

"I don't get it… This world has always been like this. No one has ever done that filming thing here."

"Always been like this?" Yu finally spoke up.

"Only me and Shadows are here! I told you before!" The bear replied, growing agitated again. Yosuke's patience was growing very thin.

"Ugh… We don't know what these Shadow things are! Or what you are either, for that matter! You keep telling us to prove our innocence, but you're the most suspicious thing here! Maybe you're the real culprit! And what's with that stupid costume?! I'd say it's time you showed your face!" Yosuke, fed up with the bear, tackled him and pulled his head right off. Much to the surprise, shock, and awe of the two humans, there was absolutely nothing in the body of the blue bear.

"Wh-What the hell?" Yosuke screamed while crawling backwards towards Yu, "I-It's empty inside..."

'My hero…' Yu decided he felt bad for the bear. He walked over to the now eyeless head and picked it up. Walking over towards the bear, he popped his head right back into place. The bear straightened his head out, and turned towards him, sporting a noticeably nicer and more welcoming demeanor. Yosuke watched it all with his jaw dropped.

"Dude… does anything rattle you?" Yu looked back, confused as ever.

"Thanks, nice guy. But, me? The culprit? I wouldn't do such a thing! I just live here. I just want to live here in bear-tiful peace and quiet..." Yosuke groaned at what just came out of the bear's mouth.

"…did you have to but its head back on?"

"Huh?" The bear seemed to resign to the fact that those two were in fact not the body dumpers he was looking for.

"Okay. I'll believe that you guys aren't the culprits. But I want you to find the real guy who did all this. You have to stop him. Promise me, or else... I'm not gonna let you guys outta here."

'Aaaah, good 'ol blackmail' Yu mentally sighed. He wondered why he ever did but the head back on.

"Y-You little...!" Yosuke growled. The bear…got desperate…

"This can't keep going on! My home here will be a complete mess! And then… and then I… Waaah…" And sure enough, the bear broke out into tears. His crying and moaning could be heard for miles on end, enough for echoes to reverberate back onto the stage.

"W-What're you crying for all of a sudden? Geez, this thing's really weirding me out…" Yosuke complained. He turned to Yu for help. "Hey, what should we do?"

Thinking back to the words of Igor in the Velvet Room of Hallucinations, Yu did remember the old geezer did mentioning he would run into some misfortune at his destination, which would probably be here, and some great mystery would be imposed upon him, or some weird phrasing of the idea. All that mattered was he was thrown right into the center of chaos and it was apparently up to him to fix it. If the world's future rested upon his success, he would give it his all. Of course, he couldn't tell them all that.

"I think we should help him."

"Wait, really?!" Yosuke asked, completely shocked that Yu would go along with this.

"Why not? I feel bad for the little guy. We probably can't get out of here anyways, so we don't really have a choice. Also, didn't you want to go because you wanted to find out who committed the murders?"

"You…have a point. But seriously, dude; you're one really nice guy."

"When have I ever said I wasn't?"

"Oh, geez. Anyways, bear, we haven't introduced ourselves. My name is Yosuke Hanamura."

"And my name is Yu Narukami."

"And I'm Teddie." Yet again, sweat dropped from the two human's eyebrows.

"…figures…" Yu groaned.

"But how are we supposed to find the culprit anyways; we don't even know where to start," Yosuke inquired.

"I may not know who threw them in, but I do know where the last person got dumped," Teddie replied.

"Did the person look like this?" Yosuke flipped out his cell phone and, unsurprisingly, the wallpaper was that of Saki Konishi.

"Uh huh."

"Lead the way then!"

"Oh, but before we go, put these on," Teddie suggested. He held out a pair of light-orange glasses with some multicolor stickers on the side, much like what Yu was wearing. It was even a different style. Yosuke took them and eyed them for a second, examining every centimeter of the frame, looking for any defects. He was the son of a department store owner, after all.

"You get away this time, bear. But, what do these things do anyways?" Yosuke said as he put them on. Much like what Yu experienced, the difference was like night and day; the fog had all but disappeared.

"Huh, I guess too much TV _is _bad for your eyes."

"Anyways, we gotta get moving before we waste too much time," Yu said, facing the direction of the path they took yesterday.

"Oh, uh, Yu-san… my nose says it's that way," Teddie giggled as he walked in another direction towards another elevated walkway.

* * *

_Yasoinaba Shopping District…?_

They walked for around 10 minutes before coming to a halt; the walkway converted into a street with buildings surrounding it. The sky above them was a menacing red and black, and the streets were unusually empty. None of the buildings were lit, only the few street lights led the way forward. Yu and Yosuke recognized this place immediately: the Inaba Shopping District.

"Hey, this kinda looks like the shopping district," Yosuke mused. He looked further up the path of the main street and found a single light shining through a particular building. Yosuke recognized this as the alcohol shop at the northern end of the shopping district. As expected, he took off towards the decrepit building with Yu and Teddie trailing behind.

"Hey, look! It's Saki-senpai's place!" he yelled as they got nearer to the shop. When they were within 10 meters of the shop, odd voices began to fill the already heavy air… in rapid succession…

"_I wish Junes would go under…"_

"_It's all because of that store…"_

"W-What the shi—" Yosuke yelped, perplexed at the snide comments made about his family's store. The barrage of comments continued still.

"_Oh, I heard that Konishi-san's daughter is working there. Oh my… How could she, with her family's business suffering like it is? I heard their sales have gone downhill because of Junes."_

"Who the hell is saying this shit?!"

"_That poor father… to have his own daughter working for the enemy. What a troublesome child…"_

"That's it…" Yosuke growled before charging into the liquor store. He frantically searched around the liquor store for the person who was saying all those unpleasant lines. Instead of a person, however, what he got was something else entirely.

"_Saki, how many times do I have to tell you?!"_

"I-Is that Saki-senpai's… dad? Why can I hear him, but can't see him?!"

"_You know what the neighbors say about you, right?! Aren't you ashamed of yourself? You're the eldest daughter of a family who's owned this store for generations! Is it the money? Or did you meet some guy there? Just tell me why you have to work THERE, of all places!" _Yosuke distracted himself from the supposed lecture that was going on and looked to his feet when he noticed he was stepping on something. It was something so familiar it caused him to finally show fear.

"Wait… that's the ticket I gave her. Why would she tear it up?" Unfortunately for him, he finally got his answer, the answer he most never wanted to hear.

"_I never got a chance to tell Hana-chan…"_

"S-Saki-senpai? Is that you? Saki! Where are you?! SAKI! …wait, tell me what?"

"_...that he was a real pain in the ass!"_ Yu actually cringed for a good second. That was probably one of the harshest lines to come from any woman, and he'd thought he'd seen the worst of them.

"_I was nice to him just because he was the store manager's son, that's all. But he takes it completely the wrong way and thinks I like him and stuff... what a dweeb." _The emotional wounds dealt on Yosuke were only amplified.

"P-Pain in the ass?"

"_Who cares about Junes, anyway? Because of that store, our business is ruined, my parents hate me, the neighbors talk behind my back... I wish everything would just fucking die!" _Yosuke was just about on breaking point with himself. He started to crouch into a fetal position, releasing all the grief, pain, suffering, and humiliation of the past six months. And still he refused to believe the voice that was of Saki Konishi.

"I-It's a lie. This can't be. Senpai's not like that!"

"_**It's ~sniff~ so sad... I feel so sorry for myself. Boo hoo..." **_a highly-distorted voice rang out from the shadows. This voice in particular scared all three people in the area as it sounded awfully familiar, like there was a demonic Yosuke. All three looked in the direction of the voice.

"_**Actually, I'm the one who thinks everything's a pain in the ass." **_The figure that owned the distorted voice came into full view, to the supreme shock of the three. Here, in looks, accessories, and mannerisms stood what seemed to be a very, very immaculate copy of Yosuke Hanamura. The very thing that sets it apart from the real one, bar the already distorted voice, was the golden eyes that bore into one's soul for eternity.

"T-T-T-Two Yosukes?!" Teddie yelled, waving his short limbs in fright. Yosuke was in the literal state of panic.

"Who are you?!" he jabbed, "I wouldn't think anything like that!"

"_**Hahaha!"**_ the other Yosuke cackled, _**"How long are you going to keep deluding yourself? Screw the shopping district, and Junes too! You're sick of everything, especially living out in the goddamn sticks!"**_

"What're you saying?! That's not true, I—"

"_**You put on a good show of being carefree and happy-go-lucky 'cause you're so terrified of being alone. The more the merrier, right? You've gotta be surrounded by people to block out the pain of isolation. And what's this about checking out this world for Saki-senpai's sake? Hah! I know the real reason you came snooping..."**_

"S-Stop it!" Yosuke heaved, sounding a lot agitated than when the doppelganger started spouting vocal cannonballs.

"_**Hahaha! Why so panicked? I thought I was just spouting bullshit! Or maybe…I DO know everything you're thinking! Why's that? Because I AM you! You just came because you thought it sounded like a good time! What else is there to do out in this backwoods, shithole town? A world inside the TV—now that's exciting! You didn't have a single other reason for coming here, did you?!"**_

"That's not true... stop... stop it..."

'This is getting bad…' Yu mentally braced himself, drawing out his golf club and holding it in a katana position. A voice appeared in his head, as well.

'_Ready when you are, Yu-sama.'_

'Glad to have you on my side, Izanagi.'

"_**You're just trying to act like a big shot. If all went well, hey, maybe you could even be a hero! And that Senpai you were so sweet on? Her death was the perfect excuse!"**_

"That's… not true! What the hell are you?! Who the fuck are you?!"

"_**~chuckle~ I already told ya. I'm a Shadow, of your true inner self! I'm your Shadow! There's nothing I don't know about you!"**_

"Fuck that! I don't know you! You can't be me, you fucking son of a bitch!" At the moment this scream of defiance hit the shadow, its body began glowing a dark red and black, almost like it was powered up by the mere denial of its existence. The shadow started smirking, feeling the surge of power coursing through its veins.

"_**Hahahahahaha! That's right, say it again!" **_And Yosuke, against his better judgment (well, no _proper_ judgment currently existed with his mental state as of current),

"You're not me! You're nothing like me!" The surge of dark power continued to expand and accelerate around it, eventually engulfing the shadow in the red-black mist.

"_**Ha! That's right. I am ME now! I AIN'T YOU AT ALL!"**_it cackled one last time before clearing the mist to reveal a very abnormal creature.

This creature looked like a gigantic frog, with black stripes running along its sides and down its limbs. Black spots also covered its body and its head, with the eyes shining a deep yellow. On its head was a v-shaped crown, shining in the dark light. Attached to the back of the frog stood a whimsical upper-half of a humanoid body. The head, face, and everything in it seemed like a black void, except two stars where the eyes should be. It wore a white upper garment and a long, red scarf. This time, the distorted voice boomed over what now looked like a torn down studio with TVs mounted on the support beams. This made it look like an arena for a showdown, or a boss fight.

"_**I am a Shadow, of your true inner self. I'll crush anything that bores me, starting with YOU!" **_It jumped and made a dive towards the head-clutching Yosuke, possibly ending his almost miserable life…

Yu was one step ahead of the game, also diving and tackling Yosuke while he held his palm out. This summoned a blue card with the drawing of the Fool Arcana, found in most Tarot decks. He crushed the spinning card with his clenched fist with energy and power erupting from behind.

"Izanagi!" Out came Izanagi, with swords blazing, flying towards the demonic frog. "Cleave it!" With two slashes, it made several gashes on its body, before retreating.

Unfortunately, the frog was semi-prepared for the attack and raised its giant paw, cocked it back, and released it all in a split second on the sword-equipped warrior. This sent him flying back far, hitting one of the televisions and falling to the floor. This didn't slow Izanagi down, as it charged the frog.

The frog had another trick up its sleeve, though; it decided it would raise both of its paws up and take in a lot of air. It then crashed down, releasing its breath, and blowing the warrior away. This also blew away Yu from Yosuke, sending him flying a few meters back. Teddie, who was watching the battle from the sidelines, called out to Yu.

"Hey, nice guy! Don't let it blow wind at you! It's beary bad!"

"Thanks for that timely information, bear!" Yu yelled back, recovering from the sudden blow. Yosuke, now free, decided he would confront the frog himself.

"There is no way in hell that you're me!"

"_**You're still denying me aren't you? How much will it take to show you that no one truly gives a damn. Everyone just barely tolerates you, yet you still feel like you're on top of the world!"**_

"SHUT THE HELL UP! YOU ARE NOTHING LIKE ME!" Yosuke screamed as he ran forward with his wrench, only to get backhanded severely and thrown to a corner, landing next to Teddie. He let out a grunt on impact.

"But that thing comes from somewhere inside, Yosuke-san." Teddie said, looking down at the fallen Yosuke. Yu decided it was time to put the gold club into action. He ran forward, holding the golf club with both hands, and swinging the club upwards like a golf stroke. This did a good deal of damage to the shadow as it screamed out in pain.

"_**You don't get it at all! No one really wants you around; they just use you and your connections to try to get what they want. You led yourself to believe that you were meant to be popular and surrounding by people, but where did that end you up? Right here!"**_ The TVs up on top flickered clear and showed Yosuke's coworkers at Junes. They were idly chatting, presumably without the presence of Yosuke.

"_~giggle~ Let's go ask Hana-chan for help. I'm sure he'll do it!"_

"_Yeah, what a loser."_

"_Or we can just get Hana-chan to do everything for us. I'm sure he wouldn't mind. HAHAHA!"_

"_**This is what everyone thinks of you: just a convenience and a tool. They don't care about you at all, they just use you to get what you want!"**_

"SHUT UP! Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Black shadowy clouds of mist begin to seep out of the TVs and from the floor, sending Teddie into panic.

"Oh crap! Its beginning to attract the other shadows! If we don't do something quick, things are gonna get real grizzly in here!" Teddie yelled towards Yu.

"C'mon, Izanagi!" Yu bellowed. Izanagi worked on the upper half, slicing away while Yu was whacking the frog on the lower body.

'Shit, what will it take him to realize that what the shadow says is true? Even I notice it.' "Izanagi!" Yu roared, driving his fists into… Yosuke. This sent Yosuke flying sideways. At the same time, Izanagi drove a powerful punch into the frog, sending it flying backwards.

"Duuuuuude!" Yosuke winced at the impact of the punch.

"Oops… wrong guy…"

"Really, dude?"

"You liked her, right?" Yu firmly asked.

"Huh?"

"I mean Saki-senpai; you liked her, right? Isn't that proof enough?" It took a few seconds for the two questions to sink in. Yosuke finally realized that this wasn't all that bad. In fact, he needed to hear this, to ensure himself that although he thought everything was a pain in the ass, there was good in the world and that not everything was a bore.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." He stood up and made his way towards the frog. "I guess if this is me, then all of this is part of me." The frog stopped its return assault for a moment. Teddie started to notice the Shadow start to physically flicker.

"It's starting to weaken! Now's your chance!"

"_**YOU ALL ARE SO FUCKING ANNOYING!"**_

"You mean we weren't doing damage before?! Izanagi! Zio!" A large thunderbolt ripped from the space above, hitting the frog and obliterating it into black smoke. Once it cleared, it revealed the fallen doppelganger of Yosuke Hanamura, with golden eyes. Yosuke approached the body and stared it down.

"Yeah, deep down I knew everything was a pain in the ass, but I didn't want to admit it; I just pretended everything was cool. I guess it wouldn't help me if I just kept lying to myself. In the end it all boils down to this, huh. You're me, and I'm you; that's all that matters in the end, doesn't it…" The shadow smiled and faded to a light blue, morphing into a new figure.

This figure was briefly seen before it vanished. From what Yu could tell, it was a bipedal humanoid with a pair of antennae on its head, the ends being eyes. It had large web hands and was wearing the same outfit as its monster-shadow form. It quickly disappeared into a single blue card, which showed a pair of eyes, a pair of hands, and a flame in the middle: the arcana of the Magician. Yosuke reached out his hands and grabbed the card, amazed by its surrealism and beauty.

"Whoa, what is this?"

"That, is a persona." Yu calmly replied, with a slight smile on his face. It was good to see the good in a person, especially when they had their darkest secrets exposed to an outside party. He felt good in assisting in finding the path to one's happiness. He could only smile at the thought.

"Haha, she dumped you, huh!" Teddie gleefully shouted. Yosuke was less than pleased.

"Shut up, bear!"

"Anyways, we gotta get out of here before any more of those giant shadow things come back," Yu suggested.

"Sensei's right! Let's all head back to the entrance!"

"Dude, Sensei? Seriously?" Yosuke complained as he dragged himself back to the entrance. It seemed that this ordeal had taken a lot out of him…

* * *

_TV World Landing Area_

They soon reached the platform through which they came, Yosuke reduced to mere heaving. There were still unanswered questions, and even more unanswered questions based on what they had just found out. Despite his weariness, Yosuke still pressed for answers, and tried to rationalize the very situation they were in.

"Hey, Teddie. Could Saki-senpai have been attacked by her other self here? Like how it just happened to me?" Teddie thought for a moment, and arrived at the same conclusion.

"I think so. The shadows here were originally born from humans. Sometimes the fog clears. Then they all go berserk… And you saw what happens next. A strong-willed shadow draws others to it. And the big mass of shadows kills the host."

"So that's why people die when it gets foggy in our world…" Yu mused.

"So that Shopping District, and the weird room we saw before… Did they exist because the ones who died entered this world, and it became their reality? I guess what I'm trying to ask is: Did those places form because of the people who entered this world?" Yosuke asked Teddie, thinking he had most of it figured out. Teddie was at a loss this time, and only could draw up conclusions of what he knew, which surprisingly wasn't much.

"I don't know; it's never happened before, but that's probably where they were when the shadows attack them."

"This world killed them?" Yu sharply asked, with a bit more force than his usual stoic self. Teddie, again, rationalized everything he knew, which in this case turned into a rant.

"The fog does lift here sometimes. The shadows get really violent then. I always get so scared. I have to hide when it happens! I sensed people here twice before. But both of them disappeared after the fog li—"

"So let's get this straight—" Yosuke interrupted, trying to confirm everything, "Senpai and that Yamano lady were thrown in here, and since they couldn't get out, they wandered around. After a while, that shadow thing came out of them. The fog cleared, it went berserk, and it ended up killing them… Does that sound right? So if I'd been here until the fog cleared, I woulda been in much deeper trouble?"

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure. You were lucky Sensei and me were here with you..."

"Dammit!" Yosuke cursed himself at the thought, "Saki-senpai and that announcer... They were stuck here all alone. No one could save them!"

"Yosuke…" both Yu and Teddie murmured.

"They disappeared when the fog lifted," Teddie remembered, "but they were safe before that. No shadows attacked them. They attacked us, though...Maybe they're keeping a close eye on us. They might see people who investigate this place as enemies. It'll be dangerous, but we might be able to fight them! We might save people!" For some reason or another, Yosuke's eyes lit up in excitement.

"Are you saying, if anyone else gets thrown in here, we can save them before they disappear?! Like how you guys just saved me?!

'You really are what your shadow says, aren't you…' Yu inwardly chuckled, "We won't know unless we try. Anyways, we need to catch the one who's throwing people in here and make him stop. I'm finally starting to understand what's going on."

"U-Um," Teddie stuttered, ruining any moment of gratification that had occurred, "Can I ask something too? If shadows are born from humans, what was Teddie born from?" Yosuke groaned, and Yu gave himself a face-palm.

"You don't even know where you came from?! How should we know?" Yosuke yelled at the troubled bear.

"I know some things, mostly about this world… But I don't know anything about myself. To be honest, I never thought about it until now…"

"Are you serious? No wonder we couldn't get a straight answer out of you."

'Figures…' Yu mentally slapped himself.

"Will you guys... come back here?" the bear pleaded. It was almost beyond adorable to Yu how much the bear depended on them, to the point where they couldn't leave. Then again, he did make a promise that they would find out whoever was throwing people in this forsaken world. He would give it his all and see through it until the end.

"Well," Yu replied, "we did make a promise."

"Y-You'll… keep your word?"

"Well, you're the one who said you weren't letting us out unless we do," Yosuke added in, reminding Teddie of the promise he made with them.

"Oh! Th-That's right! Okay, I'll let you out. But there's one thing."

"…what now?" they both moaned.

"I'll be waiting for you guys here. You need to come in from the same place every time so we can meet up."

"I knew it was the same entrance!" Yosuke exclaimed, feeling proud of himself for his usually awful intuition. "I SWEAR I'M GOING TO BEAT THE HELL OUT OF YOU, NARRATOR!"

"You could come in from somewhere else," Teddie added, "but then you won't end up here. You might show up somewhere I couldn't get to you. Then you'd be doooomed… Got it?"

"What's with the super long 'o'… did you seriously have to put its head back on?"

"Well, pretty much…" Yu lightly chuckled. Yosuke felt they needed to move before it got too late and more shadows fill the area. They were already prime targets as of late.

"Alright, can you show us the way out?"

"Roger that! One exit comin' right up!"

"Cool, first we need to check to see if—" Of course, Teddie decided to get them out the quickest way possible. He stomped his foot on the ground and summoned the sets of old televisions they used to exit yesterday. Being the impatient bear he was, he decided to throw them out regardless what was happening on the other side, much to Yu and Yosuke's chagrin.

"Alright, now sqiiiiiiiiiish!" Teddie shoved the two into the TVs with all his might.

"Ow! Goddamn it! Fuck! Ow! Quit shoving so hard! WAAAAAAAH!" And yet, Yu Narukami took it all silently, with no expression.

* * *

-_Cloudy – 6:30PM-_

_Electronics Department, Junes, Inc._

A familiar brown-haired girl was still found sulking in front of a giant television screen, holding onto a piece of broken rope that once held her friends. Her friends had not come out of the TV for over two hours and at this rate, she would have to go to the police and report them missing, causing yet another case for the hopeless Inaba Police Department to solve and a double-death case on who knows what telephone pole in the shopping district. Resigning to the inevitable, she was about to pick herself up when she noticed the screen of the TV start to ripple. Out jumped the two people she thought she'd lost forever.

"Ooof!" the two yelped as their bottoms hit the ground. Chie yelped as well, not only in relief but also in vehemence.

"Y-Y-You guys," Chie stuttered, "You guys came baaaaaaaack!" With this, she started to wail loudly in tears, drawing attention to the rest of the store. Yosuke looked notably confused, but Yu seemed to know what was going on, based on his slightly sullen expression.

"Huh? What wrong Chi- ~ooof~" Yosuke found himself back on the ground, with a mass tangle of rope lying on top of him.

'Here comes the tirade…' Yu mentally groaned.

"The nerve of you guys! You are such morons! I can't believe this! You guys suck!" Chie yelled, have crying and half raging.

"The rope got c-cut off—I had n-no idea what to d-do… I was so w-worried…" Chie caught herself for a brief moment with those last words. "I-I mean, scared stiff, dammit! I hate you both!"

"Hey. We're sorry! We're totally sorry! We're so sorry that we're sorry we're sorry, right, bro?" Yosuke rambled whilst scratching his head.

"…We are totally sorry," Yu stoically said with a sigh. Chie cleared her eyes of the falling tears, still sniffling quite a bit. It appeared she was ready to forgive them, only…

"Y-You owe me… t-ten beefsteaks!"

"Y-Yeah! We'll totally get you those ten steaks, right bro?" Yosuke asked in panic and looked to Yu again, this time not answering.

"He's getting me n-nikudon…" It seemed like Yu had no choice in the matter. After all, he did feel bad that he worried her to the point of tears.

"Eheheheh…" Yosuke trailed off.

"Then I forgive you." Chie promptly stood up and left without another word. The other two stood there for a bit, bathing in the awkward silence had formed.

"Maybe we did go a little too far…" Yosuke pondered.

"Yah think?!" Yu calmly retorted.

"Let's apologize to her again tomorrow. I'm completely wiped out. I'm gonna go home, soak in the shower for a while, and get some sleep. I think... I'm gonna sleep well tonight."

"…Let's head home…"

* * *

_-Partly Cloudy – 6:45PM-_

_Samegawa Flood Plain_

The two walked for a bit until they had to split to go to their respective houses. He suddenly stopped, though, as if he had a sudden realization.

"We need to find the culprit… no matter what it takes! There's no way the police can do it… Who'd believe that the murderer kills people by throwing them into the TV?" Yu couldn't disagree with him, although his chances of not getting found out by his uncle with paranormal involvement were slim to none. Still, he couldn't let this case slide. If more people's lives are going to be taken, then they'll be the ones to stop it, police or not.

"Let's bring an end to this."

"Yeah… I agree. I feel like, as long as you're with me, I can find the culprit and crack this case. Well, let's do our best!"

"Correction: _We _can find the culprit and crack this case." Both men extended their hands and gave each other a solid handshake. For a split second, a crash could be heard and time stopped. His world darkened around him, and Yosuke completely froze, wearing the same face. There was a light from above, drawing Yu's eyes towards it. In this light was a spinning blue card not unlike his Persona card, and it was lowered itself to eye-level.

"What… what is this?"

'_I AM THOU. THOU ART I…'_

'This shit again?... Is that my voice?'

'_THOUS HAST ESTABLISHED A NEW BOND; IT BRINGS THEE CLOSER TO THE TRUTH…'_

'…Okaaaay…'

'_THOU SHALT BE BLESSED WITH CREATING PERSONAS OF THE MAGICIAN ARCANA.'_

'Magician… what?' The strange sensation passed before him and everything returned to its normal state. Yosuke looked at the silver-haired boy strangely.

"Hey dude, you okay there? You looked like you just saw a deer in headlights." Yu found himself staring blankly at Yosuke, wide-eyed and surprised.

"…Uh, yeah… I'll see you tomorrow, Yosuke-san." With that, Yu continued his path down the flood plain, where the sunset peaked through the clouds, and colored the sky orange.

His mind was still mentally exhausted as he dragged himself along. He took some time to stare across the river

'Aaah… this reminds me of the last time I was here. The sunset's warmth and the cherry blossoms still flowing down makes me feel nostalgic.' Suddenly, images of a girl with maroon hair came floating into his mind. She projected herself upon the riverbank, on the rocks that protruded out into the river. She ran around, with a silver boy in tow.

'…What the… Do I remember this? How long ago was it?' His view became hazy once again, as the image faded and returned to the normal, picturesque sunset. He decided he would keep walking

Eventually, he came upon a gazebo where he saw another girl, this time with long, dark hair and dressed in a pink kimono. He tried to focus on the face and was able to recognize the owner. What was Yukiko Amagi doing out here? He was going to find out.

He approached the gazebo in a quiet fashion. It seemed she was staring out into the sunset as well, taking in the soft rays that radiated all over her perfect complexion, accented by the fact she was wearing a kimono and the cherry blossoms blowing in the soft wind. Yu stopped to gaze at her, soaking in the beauty that sat afar. Unfortunately for him, the girl's head turned directions, and took notice.

'Aw crap…'

"Hm?" Yukiko softly gasped. Yu knew it was too late to walk away, so he decided to talk to her for a bit. This time, contrary to her usual quiet self, Yukiko started the conversation, noting that Yu was staring at her dress.

"Oh… are you surprised to see me dressed this way?" Yukiko asked, "My parents sent me out on an errand."

"Aaah," Yu replied monotonously.

"Yeah. My family runs an Inn, which happens to be the biggest in town…"

"Oh." 'Knew about that before you even brought it up…' For Yukiko, conversations with individuals were not her strong suit, so she tried her best to keep it going, even if it meant changing topics. Of course, conversations were not of Yu's strong suits, either.

"Um… Are you getting used to your new town and school?"

'If you count crazy murders, half-demented shadow people, and teenage boys with mood-swings so frequent it made me question all sanity, then yes, I'm getting used to it all.' "Somewhat. Definitely different than in the city."

"…I'm glad to hear that. It must be difficult, moving to a place you know nothing about."

'Well, I have been here before… just don't remember most of it.'

"I've never been out of Inaba, so I wouldn't know what it's like to transfer to a new school," she sadly ruminated. Yukiko was definitely running out of topics, lending the situation to be increasingly awkward. "Oh! Are you getting along with Chie? I mean, I always leave early, so… umm…"

"She's a good girl… pretty upbeat."

"I see… Chie's very supportive, you know. It's always her who gives me the little extra push I need. We had homeroom together last year too, and I still remember how we'd cut class sometimes."

'This straight-A student, who's the textbook definition of a shrinking violet, _cuts class_?!' Yukiko suddenly stood up, checking the phone in her purse. Of course, with the kimono fluttering in the soft wind, it gave everything a surreal atmosphere.

"Oh…" Yukiko quickly said, "I should get going. I need to make tomorrow's arrangements with our head chef. Our inn can't function without me right now. Um...I'll see you at school, then."

"I'll see you tomorrow," Yu replied with a soft smile. Yukiko bowed goodbye and made her way up the floodplain to the shopping district, disappearing out of sight. Yu got up himself, and dragged his weary self back to the house he currently called "home."

* * *

**A/N:** How's that for a shadow boss scene? I pretty much combined the game's version of the battle with the anime's version, and made it a lot more vulgar than both mediums to really show what Yosuke was going through. I'm pretty sure you know what shadow is next, so stay tuned! As always, read, love, review! :D


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